Llanview Lives 3
by tyshay92
Summary: The future of Llanview is back in Llanview Lives 3. This is about 21 years after OLTL ended. Maybe I'm inspired since the show is coming back. Llanview really does live now soooo... Destiny & Matthew are finally together. Find out what happens with them, their family and friends. The drama continues...
1. Beginnings

_For a recap of who's who in Llanview, go to my profile page._

* * *

Beginnings

_One Year Later..._

It was a beautiful autumn morning. Matthew and Destiny were cuddled in bed together. The sun shining through the big windows in Matthew's room and birds chirping woke them up.

"Good morning." Matthew said.

"Good morning." Destiny replied then went to move but Matthew held her tighter.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm getting up."

"No. Don't leave me. I'm cold, you keep me warm."

"You just don't want to let me go."

"You're right, I don't." Matthew kissed Destiny's neck causing her to giggle.

"Sorry babe but I have to get DJ from Shaun's and take him to school then Miry, Dani, Neela, Izzy and I are going to the gym... It's Evan's first day of kindergarten. Aww, isn't it exciting? Remember Miry's first day of kindergarten. She was so adorable. She had her little bow in her curly hair and she picked out her outfit. She was so excited. She said, 'I'm a big girl now!' Her eyes lit up. Aww! Our baby isn't a baby anymore! Now she's taking her baby to kindergarten." Destiny poked out her lip.

"You miss those years don't you?"

"Yeah for Miry and DJ."

"Move in with me. Let's have another baby."

"You say what?" Destiny quickly sat up and was completely awake after hearing that.

"Move in with me and let's have a baby."

Destiny laughed. "You done lost your damn mind!" Destiny felt Matthew's head.

"What are you doing?"

"Are you sick? You must me sick."

"No!" Matthew laughed.

"You haven't been drinking, have you?"

"Destiny, I'm fine!" Matthew laughed again. "I'm serious."

"You're tripping. We have a grandchild. Hell, you already have five kids. That's not enough for you? You have problems with the ones already have."

"We have a grandchild but we're too young to be grandparents. There are people our age who are just starting families."

"We're not those people, ok? We started young. Besides, we are coming up on forty. Do you understand that? Forty. Middle aged. Half way to eighty. Our oldest is twenty-one. We don't need another baby."

"I want another with you. The love of my life. We can do it right."

"You've lost your mind. I'm not having another baby. I don't want another baby anymore. I'm past that phase. That's not where I am in my life and I'm not moving in either."

"Why not? One big happy family. We could all be under one roof."

"I love you but you really need to get your head out of the clouds. Miracle is not moving in here even if you two have been getting along lately. And I know you don't think Dani is going to give you custody of Del. Another thing, that is too much for DJ to handle. Oh, one more thing, I am not just another one of your baby mamas, ok? If you're going to ask me to have your baby and move in, you could at least ask me to marry you first."

Matthew smiled. "Marry me."

"No. I shouldn't have to tell you to propose to me and not like this. Besides, I don't want to get married again anyway. I was just making a point."

"You don't want to get married again?"

"Right."

"I've waited a lifetime for you and you don't want to marry me?"

"It's not about you. It's about me. I don't want to get married again. I came to that decision before we even got together... Look, I'm going to get myself together." Destiny kissed Matthew then got up.

-v-

Miracle and Leon took Evan to his classroom for the first time.

"How do we say, 'See you later,' in Spanish?" Miracle asked Evan.

"Nos veremos mas tarde, hasta pronto, mama." Evan said.

"That's my boy." Leon said.

"He's bilingual?" The teacher asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. We're still teaching him." Miracle replied.

"Our family is big on passing on our culture and I'm half Cuban." Leon said.

"That's awesome. Evan, would you like to help me teach your classmates the numbers in Spanish?" The teacher asked. Evan smiled and nodded. "He'll be fine."

"Aww, my big boy! Give mommy and daddy a hug." Miracle said. They shared a family hug before they let Evan go then left the classroom. Miracle and Leon walked quietly to the car and continued to be quiet during the car ride.

"How long are we going to keep this up?" Leon asked.

"Keep what up?" Miracle replied.

"You know what I'm talking about, pretending like we're happy around Evan but when he's not around we're arguing or not talking at all."

"You just want to find an excuse to break up because you don't want to get married."

"No I don't. I want to marry you one day but not today! We're too young! You're just being stubborn! You know I'm right."

"Why wait?"

"Obviously, we're not ready!"

"You're not ready! You want out!"

"Every since... Darren passed away, you've been trying to speed through life. I'm not going there with you."

"Why did you have to bring up Darren?"

"It's the truth! We need to take a break."

Miracle looked at Leon. "Pull over."

"What?"

"Pull over!" Miracle yelled and Leon pulled the car over. "So you finally admit it, you want to break up."

"We need time apart. We need to take a break; we need to grow up."

"See other people?"

"Maybe. We need time apart. If it's meant to be, it will be."

"Fine, if that's what you want. It's over." Miracle got out of the car.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm walking."

"Don't be ridiculous girl, get in this car. Get in the car. Ooh, she's so damn stubborn. Miracle!" Leon got out of the car and went over to her. "You know I am not going to let you walk. You also know it looks bad if Miracle Buchanan is walking out here. If someone sees us then sees you get out and walk, they'll have a story by the time Access Llanview comes on tonight. You can be upset and stubborn but be upset and stubborn in the car." Miracle got in the car then Leon followed.

-v-

Matthew drove Nicole, Drew and Ace to Llanview High.

"Dad, this is not fair! Miracle got a car when she turned sixteen. We should get cars too!" Nicole exclaimed with attitude as usual.

"I don't reward bad behavior. Fix your behavior, attitude and grades then we'll see about cars for your seventeenth birthdays." Matthew replied.

"You've been a half-ass father all our lives, now in the last few years you want to pretend like you're daddy of the year. Please." Nicole got out of the car and slammed the door.

"Later daddy." Drew said then got out of the car.

"Enjoy your first day of high school, son." Matthew said to Ace.

"Thanks dad." Ace got out of the car. Matthew drove away after they entered the school.

Matthew entered the Buchanan mansion, went in the living room where Destiny was and sat down. He looked frustrated.

"You took DJ to school already?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah. Now I'm going to head to the gym in a few minutes." Destiny said.

"I don't know why you're going to the gym, we worked out pretty well last night."

Destiny covered her face and blushed. "What's wrong? I could tell something was bothering you when you walked in." Destiny asked.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about Nicole and Drew. I'm trying so hard but I just can't seem to get them on track."

"Drew isn't the problem. Drew's problem is that she follows Nicole. If you get her to follow her own lead and not Nicole, she'll be fine. Nicole on the other hand, I'm sorry but that little girl is hot to trot and that mouth of hers is going to get her into some trouble one day. Here's the problem, you waited too long to try to discipline them. You don't wait until they're teenagers to put your foot down. Both of their mothers are hot messes. Nicole is a bad combination of both of you."

"How is that?"

"That attitude, she's so disrespectful, she does whatever she wants to do and she has a sense of entitlement, so spoiled."

"You're saying she gets some of that from me?"

"Hell yeah. When you're bad, you're bad. Remember when Nate was working at the country club way back in the day and you did your best to make his job a living hell? That's Nicole. If you don't get her in check, you're going to be a grandfather again before you're forty... I know Miracle isn't perfect but what you go through with Nicole and Drew, I never went through with Miry. Maybe she ran her mouth a bit with you when I wasn't around but she didn't try that with me or anyone else for that matter. I'm not trying to judge Nicole but I just know that you need to figure out what you need to do to get her on track before you lose her."

-v-

Meanwhile at Llanview High, Drew was putting on lip gloss in the mirror of the girls' restroom. Then Nicole came out of a stall. She changed from her jeans and t-shirt to a blue mini dress.

"Why did you change?" Drew asked.

"Because I am getting out of here. I'll be back before grandma picks us up." Nicole replied.

"Where are you going?"

"I have a date with a very hot guy. I've actually been seeing him a few weeks now. It's getting serious. Enough about me, who are you primping in the mirror for?"

"You know."

"Aww, y'all are too cute but I'm dating a man. You don't know anything about that." Nicole adjusted her bra to make her boobs look perkier then walked out of the restroom.

-v-

Destiny, Dani and Neela walked into the gym and saw Miracle and Izzy sitting on a bench. Izzy was comforting Miracle, she was a wreck, crying hysterically.

"What's wrong?" Destiny asked, sitting next to Miracle. Miracle replied but it sounded like jibberish to Dani and Neela. They looked at each other confused.

"Leon broke up with her." Izzy filled in the blanks for them.

"Aww baby, I'm so sorry! It's alright." Destiny held Miracle in her arms.

For the first forty-five minutes Miracle just cried but once she was all cried out she put on a pair of boxing gloves and snapped out on a punching bag. Destiny, Dani, Izzy and Neela looked at each other with concern. They knew Miracle would be upset if she and Leon ever broke up and she was not taking it well at all but frankly, everyone saw it coming.


	2. Through the Rain

_For a recap of who's who in Llanview, go to my profile page._

* * *

Through the Rain

It hadn't been long since Leon came to pick up Evan for their weekend together and boy did that send Miracle's heart into a frenzy. She went in her room and blasted Brandy's song, Brokenhearted. Miracle tended to enjoy Destiny's oldies even more than she enjoyed the music of her generation... As the song played she cried and cried while singing along, holding a teddy bear in her arms. Destiny heard the music blasting so she went to check on her.

"Oh baby, what happened?" Destiny asked as she went to sit next to her on her bed and hold her.

"I saw Leon today." Miracle cried.

"It's going to be alright. I promise."

Destiny let her get all cried out before she left to meet a client. As Destiny was walking toward her car her cell phone rung.

"Hey Matt." Destiny answered.

"Hey, what are you up to?" Matthew asked.

"I'm heading to meet with a client... I'm concerned about Miry. Every since Darren passed away, she hasn't been able to deal with anything well. She handled being held hostage by a psycho better than she's handling this break up and that's a bit nerve wrecking. Everything is like the end of the world to her. I think she should talk to someone. Seeing Darren get shot and watching him die, it was so traumatic she never became emotionally settled again. I think the fact that he died saving her makes her feel a bit guilty. She's holding onto everything so tightly. I hate seeing my baby like this."

"I should break Leon for breaking my baby girl's heart."

"Oh Matt, heart break is a part of life. You can't go beat up every guy that breaks her heart. I just wish she could handle it better."

-v-

Nicole and Drew arrived at the bowling alley. Nicole made herself up to look older and it really didn't take much for her to accomplish that.

"Maybe we shouldn't have sneaked out of the house." Drew said.

"Did you want to see your love bug or not? This was the only way you were going to see him so be happy. There's my man so I'll see you later sis." Nicole walked over to a tall, dark and handsome man who just walked in and hugged and kissed him.

"Isn't he little old for her?" A familiar male voice said from behind Drew. She turned around and smiled. The guy sat next to her.

"Harvey. I'm so happy to see you." Drew said. Harvey is Starr and James' son. He's also sixteen and he and Drew had been dating for a few months now but Matthew has no idea.

"I was looking forward to tonight too. Have you told your dad about us yet?"

"No."

"Why not? I don't think he'd have a problem with you dating me."

"But Nicki says-" Drew started before Harvey cut her off in frustration.

"Nicki says, it's always about what Nicki says. What about what Drew says? Don't you have your own brain?"

"Of course."

"So why don't you ever use it? Just because she's sneaking around with a guy who is obviously too old for her anyway, doesn't mean you have to sneak around too. Think for yourself."

They looked over at Nicole and her boyfriend and she was all over him. It was sickening, way too much for the public.

"That's who you look up to?" Harvey asked with his face frowned in disgust.

"Look up to? She's only three months older than me." Drew replied.

"You still look up to her. You admire her. She's your sister so it's understandable but you need to find a new role model... and tell your dad that we're dating."

Drew sighed. "Are we here to talk or can we get to me kicking your butt in bowling?"

"Kick my butt? Oh we'll see about that Cupcake." Harvey laughed then kissed Drew on the cheek.

Nicole was on her boyfriend's lap, facing toward him, making out.

"Dan, you are making me so hot right now." Nicole said.

"Let's go to my place then." Dan replied.

"I don't think I should leave my sister." Nicole said before she noticed Izzy walk in with her boyfriend, Martin. She didn't want Izzy to see her with an older guy because she might tell Miracle. "On second thought, my sister's boyfriend has a car so he can drive her home. Let's go." Nicole left the bowling alley with Dan and text Drew once she got to his car to let her know that she had left.

"Ugh! I can't believe she left me." Drew said, annoyed.

"And that's who you follow." Harvey pointed out.

Meanwhile, Izzy was waiting on Martin to get their shoes so that they could bowl and a guy approached her.

"Hola hermosa." They guy said.

"Hola, gracias." Izzy thanked the guy for calling her beautiful.

"I saw you walk in with someone but I just had to speak to someone as gorgeous as you are." Martin walked over with the shoes. "You're a lucky man. You have a beautiful woman."

"I know! Now get out of her face before we have a problem." Martin replied with hostility. He had a Spanish accent like Izzy, he was a gorgeous twenty-three year old Latin man with dark curly hair and dark eyes which matched perfectly with his dark persona, however, the darkness within him was not obvious to most people unless they spent a large amount of time with him. Otherwise, he appeared very charming. One had to get past the charm to see his true persona. If one couldn't get past his charm, they were in for a surprise.

"Ok. I'm sorry." The guy threw his hands up in the air in defeat and walked away.

"You're flirting with dudes right in front of face? How could you disrespect me like that?" Martin asked, angrily.

"I wasn't flirting or disrespecting you. All I said was hello." Izzy replied.

"Whatever. I know what I saw. Here are your shoes." He handed the shoes to her harshly and walked away. Izzy looked down at the shoes, took a deep breath then followed Martin to where they were sitting.

-v-

Miracle heard Darren's favorite song being played on the piano in the living room as she descended the stairs so she went in the living room and found the only other person left in the house, DJ.

"You have gotten so good at playing the piano. You are amazing." Miracle sat next to her little brother.

"Thanks. I still miss dad." DJ said.

"So do I. I don't think we'll ever stop."

"Do you think mom still misses him?"

"I know she does. Love like they had doesn't just go away. She's just been able to move on, something I haven't been very good at doing." Miracle began playing _I Believe in You and Me_ by Whitney Houston on the piano and singing. DJ joined in with her once it got to the "I believe in miracles," part near the end. It was a play on words that they always took advantage of as a family. "I miss the four of us being together. That was our family song. Mom probably started it with that song in the first place. You know Whitney Houston is her favorite singer."

"We wouldn't even know who Whitney Houston was if it weren't for mom."

"We wouldn't know who a lot of people were if it weren't for either of them. I have an idea. Chad plays the drums, Ace plays guitar, you play piano and Eva sings, you all sing accept Chad but Eva could lead. You four should make a band. I could manage you and write your songs!"

"Whoa! Hold up, sis. First of all, what makes you qualified to manage anyone? You just graduated college with a degree in fashion design."

"And I minored in business management. Trust me, I'm good. I know my stuff. I also grew up with Darren, I was always in the studio with him. I know a lot about music. To top it off I can be the stylist too."

"Fine but there's just one problem. I don't like Ace."

"Why not?" Miracle was shocked.

"I don't. He's annoying."

"Come on. You're not giving him a chance. I have the greatest little brothers in the world. Just give it a chance. It would be fun and it would give us both a chance to focus our energy on something positive. You know like music therapy. Honestly D, I feel awful right now."

"Ok. I'm in." DJ smiled, hugged Miracle and kissed her on the cheek. "Cheer up Miry. 'If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible.' -Paulo Coelho." DJ quoted.

"Who is that?"

"Some author or something. I don't know but I do know, I don't want you to feel this way for too long."

Miracle smiled and continued to hold on to her brother.

-v-

It hadn't been long since Nicole and Dan arrived in front of the Buchanan mansion in his car. They had a last minute make out session before Nicole decided to get out.

"I'll call you." Dan said before Nicole got out of the car. When Nicole got out Ace was standing right there in her face. Dan drove off.

"Stalker." Nicole said to Ace, wondering why he was there.

"Who was that?" Ace asked.

"None of your business."Nicole replied as she walked toward the door.

"He looks too old for you and why are you dressed like that?"

"Again, it's none of your business. I thought I was the oldest here. Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, your brain. I'm telling dad."

"You're not telling anyone. If you do, I will make your life a living hell."

"You're turning on your own brother for a guy?"

"We're brother and sister, we're supposed to stick together and if you're going to rat me out to dad you're not doing that."

"I'm just looking out for you."

"Then do me a favor and don't. If you don't tell dad about my boyfriend then I won't tell dad that you've got detention for a week for fighting."

"Blackmailing your own brother, that's low. At least I came from a place of love."

"Deal or no deal."

"Fine. Deal." Ace said then walked into the house.

-v-

After all the kids were in bed, Matthew went out to Capricorn with Shane because Matthew was considering buying the place. Matthew and Shane had been growing closer again since Matthew moved back into the Buchanan mansion. Shane, GiGi, and Rex lived there for about twenty years with Bo and Nora. It was definitely home. Everyone they loved was there.

Matthew and Shane had been at Capricorn for awhile. They enjoyed themselves even though they didn't drink. Matthew didn't drink, obviously because he's a recovering alcoholic and because it was a business venture. Shane didn't drink because he was being courteous to Matthew, nonetheless, they still had a good time. Matthew was happy about the fact that he finally had someone to hangout with besides David and Miley. Before Miley moved to Llanview he only saw her a few times a month so mostly he only had David to hang out with. Now he had Destiny back too, life was looking good from his perspective.

Miley's new pop song came on and the next thing they knew Dani was on the bar drunk and dancing. They didn't even know she was there until then.

"What the hell is she doing?" Matthew asked. She flirted with some of the guys as she danced and seemingly became wilder by the minute. After watching for a minute or so, Matthew decided that she had embarrassed herself enough so he went over and physically took her off the bar himself.

"What are you doing?" Dani asked.

"Taking you home. You've had enough." Matthew replied.

"I'm fine!" Dani exclaimed.

"I'll take her home." One of the guys Dani flirted with jumped in.

"No. You won't. Goodbye." Matthew said.

"Why are you being a pain?" Dani asked before almost falling down but Matthew caught her.

"That's it." Matthew said and picked her up. Shane got her purse.

"Put me down!" Dani yelled all the way to the car. Matthew put her in the back seat of his jeep, Shane rode shot gun and they took

her home. She passed out on the ride there. Once they got to her house, Shane got the key out of her purse and opened the door so that Matthew could go in and carry her to her bedroom. He laid her down then met Shane back at the jeep.

"I sure hope she doesn't do that too often." Matthew said.


	3. Wild Flowers

Wild Flowers

In the garage of the Buchanan mansion, Ace had his guitar, DJ was at the keyboard, Chad was at the drums and Eva was at the mic. Miry stood in front of them thinking this band was the best idea ever.

"Ok guys, it's our first rehearsal. Excited?" Miry asked.

"Yeah!" The four exclaimed.

"We have our first song so let's jam!" Miry exclaimed.

The boys started on the instrumental then Eva began to sing. Soon they got through their first song.

"Aaahh! You sound so good already! We're going to work hard and we're going to have fun. I promise it will pay off."

"So we're all here. Now we need a name." Eva said. She is John and Evangeline's daughter, Destiny's little sister and Miracle's little aunt.

"You sure do. Any ideas?" Miracle asked.

"How about 'Infinity?'" Chad suggested. He is Shane and Neela's son.

"Why 'Infinity?'" Ace asked.

"Because the greatest things last forever." Chad replied.

"I like that. What do you all think?" Miracle asked. DJ, Ace and Eva all agreed that they loved the name.

"'Infinity' it is." Miracle said then the four began to play their song again.

"They sound great." Miracle heard Leon's voice from behind her. The smile on her face instantly disappeared. She turned to face him.

"What are you doing here?" Miracle asked.

"Dani wanted me to pick up Del for her so I'm bringing Evan back a little earlier since I'm already here." Leon replied.

"Hi mommy!" Evan exclaimed then hugged her.

"Hi sweetie. Did you have fun with daddy?" Miracle asked and Evan nodded his head. "Good... Del is in the house with my dad so just ring the doorbell."

"Ok. How are you?"

"I'm busy so I'll see you later." Miracle turned back to 'Infinity' to watch them play. Leon shook his head then went inside.

"Eva, try to hold that note a little longer at the end, ok? Let's take five." Miracle said then took Evan's hand and started toward the front door.

"Miry!" DJ called and ran after her.

"Yeah?"

"We're all excited about this band but if you're going to manage us, you can't get all wimpy on us every time Leon comes around."

"... You're right. I'll be back in a few minutes." Miracle went inside with Evan and met Matthew and Destiny in the living room.

"Hey little man." Destiny said and Evan ran over and hugged her.

"Hi mimi." Evan said.

"Don't forget me!" Matthew exclaimed.

"Hey pops." Evan hugged him.

"E, there's cookies in the kitchen." Destiny said.

"Yay!" Evan ran into the kitchen.

"You ok after seeing Leon?" Destiny asked. Miracle shook her head. "Sit with us." Miracle sat in between her parents.

"Your dad and I were talking and we think that it would be a good idea if you talked to a therapist about your feelings. It should help you."

"You mean like Marty Saybrooke?" Miracle asked.

"No not Marty, she needs a psychologist herself. It's a crime she's even still allowed to practice but anyway... Hope is a psychologist, she's just a few years older than you and it should be easy for you to talk to her. You need to talk to someone. Holding on to your pain is just going to hurt you more and more." Destiny said.

"I don't know."

"We only want what's best for you and we believe that this will help. Aren't you tired of hurting?" Matthew asked.

"At least try it." Destiny said.

"Fine. Could you keep an eye on Evan for me?" Destiny agreed then Miracle went back out to the band.

"I hope it helps her to talk about how she feels." Matthew said.

"So do I." Destiny moved closer to him.

"I wonder if Dani got Leon to pick up Del because she got drunk, embarrassed herself and Shane and I had to take her home a few nights ago."

"Really? That's not like her."

"Haven't you talked to her?"

"Not lately. She goes M.I.A. on me sometimes. She's been doing that for a while now. I know she feels really lonely though she's been trying to hide it."

Drew was upstairs in her room on the phone talking to Harvey.

"Did you tell your dad about us yet?" Harvey asked.

"Have you told YOUR dad about us?" Drew replied.

"...I was going to tell him when you told yours."

"I knew you didn't."

"Why haven't you told your dad?"

"I was going to when I remembered that my dad killed your grandfather so I had a feeling that wasn't going to go over so well!"

"Right... I forgot about that detail but you know, my dad didn't even like his father."

"Yeah but he loves his brother who almost took the blame for the murder. Your uncle Nate and my dad still don't get along. Of course that has a lot more to do with my dad but he's been good since he's gotten back with Destiny."

"Bottom line is, I love you and I don't want our relationship to be a secret so we should just tell them and get it over with. If they don't like it then too bad."

"You love me?" It was the first time Drew had ever heard a guy say that.

"Yeah I do."

Drew smiled. "I'm going to tell him tonight."

"Where have you been?" Drew heard Matthew yell from downstairs. He must've been talking to Nicole.

"Maybe tonight isn't a good time but I'll let you know soon and we'll tell our dad's at the same time. I'll see you at school." Drew got off the phone and eased halfway downstairs and sat on the steps to listen in on Matthew yelling at Nicole.

"You were supposed to be there so that David could pick you and Drew up after school." Matthew yelled.

"I'm tired of being picked up after school like a child." Nicole yelled back.

"You are a child and if you want to be treated your age then act like it."

"Whatever." Nicole started toward the stairs.

"I'm not done with you. Your principal called today, he said you've been skipping school every since it started."

"So?"

"Where do you think you're going if you don't graduate high school? Go to your room." Drew ran back up to her room since she had been ease dropping the entire time. "I'll tell you your punishment later." Nicole stomped upstairs and slammed the door. Matthew took his seat next to Destiny.

"Wow. Maybe she needs to talk to someone too. Other than her being very spoiled, I don't know why she's so angry unless there's something he's not telling you."

"She's a teenager."

"She is the angriest teenager we know. We weren't even angry like that as teens, not for no reason. Is there a reason she's like this or is she just a rebellious soul?"

"I was thinking about sending her to boarding school."

Destiny looked at Matthew in disbelief.

"Are you the same man who escaped boarding school in a wheelchair? She's your daughter. What makes you think she wouldn't book out of there the first chance she got? That's not the answer because for one thing, she'll runaway. Another reason is that sending her away won't solve the problem. She should feel like no matter how bad she messes up she'll always be able to come home and have support. On the other hand, she needs to know that she can't do whatever she pleases."

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't know but one thing you should do is let Nicole and Drew see their mothers. They may be bad influences but they are their mothers and I'm sure they miss them. You can supervise the visits. I don't know, maybe you should keep her close by you and give her some responsibility. Remember when you were in boarding school and I lied, said I was going on a school trip to D.C. But really went all the way across the world to see you? My dad didn't let me out of his sight for weeks and the punishment lasted an entire month. Dani told me that Jack got in trouble once, and Vic never let him out of his sight and he made him work at the Sun."

"Wait. You're using Victor Lord, Jr. and Jack as an example when it comes to parenting?"

"What? The man may be a bit nuts but he was the only one of you guys' rich parents who actually parented and didn't let his kids get away with everything."

"That's not true."

"It's true to me. You wanted to know my opinion so there it is."

-v-

Nicole walked into Drew's room, ready to vent.

"Can you believe him? He's trying to put me in check. He needs to get a life." Nicole said.

"We're his children, we are his life." Drew replied softly.

"Are you standing up for him?"

"... No. I'm just saying."

"I don't like that bitch Destiny either."

"She's never done anything to us."

"She doesn't like us either."

"Why do you think that? She helped us a number of times."

"Please, don't be so gullible. I wasn't planning to go but now that I'm all riled up, come to this party with me."

"...I don't know... maybe you shouldn't go. You're already in a lot of trouble."

"You coming or not?"

"...Fine." Drew replied and they both got dressed. Nicole called her boyfriend back over to pick them up then they sneaked out the back of the mansion.

When they arrived at the party, everyone there was between eighteen and twenty-eight. It was wild, there was sex, drugs and alcohol. Nicole was ready to dive in and enjoy but Drew constantly had Harvey's voice in the back of her head, telling her to stop following Drew and do the right thing. Last year, Drew would follow Nicole and would be for it 100% and probably just wouldn't go as overboard as Nicole would. This year, Drew has started to second guess all the things they do. She knew things were never her idea and she just went along with it but now just going along for the ride wasn't as acceptable to her and Harvey was influencing her even more to do the right thing, however, she still had a tug of war going on inside herself.

"You want a drink?" Dan asked them.

"Yeah!" Nicole replied enthusiastically.

"Uh... none for me." Drew replied.

"Don't be a bore. She'll have a drink as well." Nicole said then Dan walked away. "He thinks we are nineteen, don't blow it for me by acting like a little girl."

Dan came back with beers for them and himself. Nicole took it to the head but Drew was disgusted by the smell and hesitated. Nicole elbowed Drew's arm so she went ahead and sipped it a little.

Nicole left Drew to dance provocatively with Dan. Drew sipped a little more on the beer then threw it away.

"That is nasty." Drew said. She looked around then wondered to herself why she was there. Harvey was right. She really needed to stop following her. Gratefully, she was finally mature enough to realize that the things they've done and do are not ok. Then she noticed Nicole getting ready to take some type of pill so she ran over to her. "What are you doing? Don't take something and you don't even know what it is."

"I know what it is, it's speed."

"So you're going to willingly take drugs?"

"Yes." Nicole put the pill in her mouth.

"What kind of boyfriend are you to let her do this?" Drew asked Dan.

"Don't blame him, I do what I want to do. No one can make me do anything or stop me."

A guy came over and slapped Nicole's behind. Dan instantly became enraged.

"Have you lost your mind? That's my girl." Dan yelled.

"Look at the way she's dressed, she asked for it." The guy replied before he felt Dan's fist against his face and fell to the floor.

"You asked for that." Dan said to the guy. The guy got back up and pulled a knife out. "You don't want to do that."

"Are you still talking like a tough guy?" The guy asked. Dan pulled a gun on the guy.

"Are you?" Dan asked. The guy backed down and walked away so Dan put the gun away.

"Thanks for protecting me, baby." Nicole said.

"Are you kidding me?" Drew was in disbelief. She was just terrified and her sister was cool about her boyfriend having a gun. Something is wrong with her. "Let's go."

"No! I'm enjoying the party."

"...Fine. Stay then, you're on your own." Drew went outside and called Harvey.

"Hey Lovebug?" Harvey answered.

"Hey, I know it's late but could you pick me up from this party. I came with Drew and her boyfriend. I know it was a bad idea but I just don't feel safe. I just want to go home."

"Drew, it's 12:30. My curfew was hours ago."

"I know. I'm sorry but if I call anyone else I'll get in trouble."

"I'll be in trouble too but don't worry. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"You know what... no. I don't want you to get in trouble. I just thought of someone else I can call. Thanks. I love you." Drew hung up with Harvey and called her mom, Lilo.

"Lilo speaking."

"Mom? It's me, Drew.

"Drew! It's been a long time. How are you? Your dad finally let you call me?"

"No but I need your help. I'm at this party that I'm not supposed be at and I really want to go home. I don't want to get in trouble. I don't feel safe or comfortable."

"Fine, where are you?" Drew gave Lilo the address and she arrived about fifteen minutes later with her new boyfriend.

"This is Ezera. Ezera, this is my daughter, Drew. Drew, let's get you home."

"Wait, can you go in and get Nicole, I don't want to leave her here but she doesn't want to leave?" Drew asked.

"Then let her stay." Lilo replied.

"Mom!"

"Fine." Lilo said.

"I'll get her." Ezera offered.

"...Thanks. Her boyfriend is dangerous. You're a lot bigger than him but you should be aware." Drew said.

"Ezera's a professional wrestler and boxer, he can handle himself." Lilo said.

Drew and Ezera went back into the party to find Nicole.

"Oh my gosh!" Drew exclaimed after spotting Nicole putting on a sex show with Dan. "Unfortunately, that girl making a fool of herself over there is my sister."

"How old is she?"

"Sixteen."

"How old is he?"

"Early twenties."

Ezera shook his head and all six foot five, two hundred eighty pounds of muscles went over and pull Nicole off of Dan like she was a feather.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" Nicole yelled.

"Put your clothes on." Ezera said before taking one unexpected hit to Dan and knocking the daylights out of him.

"What did you do that for?" Nicole yelled after she finished dressing and kneeled by Dan's side.

"Let's go."

"I don't know you! I'm not going any-" Ezera picked Nicole up, threw her over his shoulders and walked out with Drew next to him.

Nicole fussed the during the entire ride.

"This is all your fault!" Nicole yelled to Drew.

"Yeah. I'm looking out for you. At least this way, if dad didn't figure out that we sneaked out yet, you won't get in trouble but this is the last time I'm covering for you. You need to stay away from that Dan guy. He's bad news."

"I know what he is. If you tell, I'm bringing you down with me."

"Go ahead and try."

They pulled up to the mansion.

"Thanks mom. Thanks... Ezera. Goodbye." Drew said and got out of the car with Nicole.

"Wait. Drew, I love you. I just want you to know that." Lilo got out of the car to say.

"I know, mom. I love you too." Drew hugged her then helped Nicole go into the mansion through the back. As big as the place is, it felt like forever getting Nicole to her room. When they finally got there and opened the door Matthew was sitting on her bed which faced the door waiting for them.

"Dad!" Drew exclaimed, surprised.

"Nice of you two to show up." Matthew said. Nicole was obviously high as kite. She couldn't walk straight. "What's wrong with her?"

"She took speed and drank beer. I don't know how much but we weren't there that long."

"You weren't where that long?" Matthew asked.

"A party."

Nicole sat down and Matthew looked at her eyes. He shook his head.

"This ends here." Matthew said.

-v-

The next day, Miracle went to the Buenas Dias and saw Izzy there with shades on and eating. They were supposed to hang out but Izzy canceled because she was sick but obviously that was a lie. Miracle went over to her.

"Sick huh?" Miracle asked.

"Miry! Um, I am sick. I came to get soup." Izzy replied.

"You're not eating soup."

"I ate it already."

"Sure you did." Miracle sat down. "I don't appreciate my best friend lying to me. What's wrong with you? I've hardly seen or talked to you since you've been with this new guy. Why are you sitting here with those glasses on?"

"I'm sick. My head hurts."

"Liar. I'm having Dejá Vü." Miracle reached across and took Izzy's shades off. She shook her head and gave her the glasses back, Izzy put them back on.

"He's hitting you? Haven't you had enough of that for a lifetime from the man you thought was your father?"

"Just stay out of it." Miry looked at her like she was being ridiculous. "Right. I forgot who I was talking to."

"I am not going to sit back and let some guy pound on my best friend. I'm going to help you if you like it or not. You deserve better and you know it. You went to college to become a councilor so that you can help other women. You can't help anyone else if you can't help yourself. I love you Izzy and I won't watch you get hurt." Miracle hugged her and left. Izzy put her head down, frustrated.


	4. Time to Talk

Time 2 Talk

Miry finally made an appointment with Hope for a therapy session. After two years of emotional turmoil, she was finally brought to this point. As much as she wanted to believe she didn't have a problem, deep down she knew that she did.

"So what brings you here today?" Hope asked.

"My parents." Miracle replied.

"Your parents? Are you sure?"

"Well... It was their idea." Miracle took a deep breath. "Ok... Maybe I've been sad... and afraid."

"Maybe?"

"Fine, actually."

"When did you start feeling that way?"

"I guess when Darren died... I loved him so much. He was more of a dad to me than my dad was. We were really close. He was still young and he died saving me and Izzy. I could've died that day. Life can end at any moment, you can lose someone you love at any moment. All I can do is live for today because tomorrow is never promised, hell the next minute isn't promised so I don't want to die before accomplishing everything that I want. There's no time to second guess. Do what you want and do it now?"

This was a good start for Miracle. Hope dived right into her problems and really felt her pain. Hope was the best person for Miracle to talk to.

-v-

Leon and Sam were having some bonding time with their dad, Vic. They were both so happy that they finally had a chance to know him.

"What's going on with my boys?" Vic asked.

"Sierra's pregnant." Sam announced.

"... Congratulations. Looks like I'm going to be a grandfather again."

"Yeah! We're excited... What's up with you Le?" Sam asked.

"I met a girl. We're going on our first date soon."

"What about Miry?" Vic and Sam asked in unison.

"We broke up a couple months ago. You both know that."

"Yeah but you love her, don't you?" Sam asked.

"Of course I love her but I can't give her what she needs or wants right now. Besides, we're young. Maybe we should experience other things before we get tied down to each other. We both have a lot of growing up to do. As much as we love each other, I don't think we would last long if we stayed together where we are in our lives right now. I think we're better off taking a break from each other."

"As much as I love Miry, I totally agree with you. I'm glad you figured it out on your own." Vic said.

-v-

Matthew decided to take Destiny's advice about how to handle Nicole and Drew but especially Nicole. He allowed them to see their mothers under supervision. He gave Drew the typical no going out, no phones, no nothing punishment but he went a different route with Nicole. Along with the no nothing punishment, he never let her out of his sight and had her working with him at B.E. He also had someone watching her when she went to school to make sure she stayed there and didn't cut class.

Matthew was at the office and had Nicole working with him and she was being difficult about it as usual.

"Nic, I need you to make twenty copies of this document for me." Matthew said.

"Make your damn copies!" Nicole said.

"Excuse me. That's what I have you here for. Now go make the damn copies!" Nicole snatched the documents off the desk. "You better do it right. It's not rocket science."

"Whatever." Nicole walked out of the room. She came back a few minutes later with the copies."I'm not your slave, you know."

"No, you're my daughter and I'm trying to teach you some responsibility."

"What do you know about responsibility?" Nicole mumbled. "You've really been more of a pain in the ass since you've gotten with Destiny."

"Your mouth has gotten out of control lately. Don't say another word for the rest of the day. Finish what I told you to do early."

"Ugh!" Nicole rolled her eyes and sat down. "Asshole." She mumbled.

-v-

Destiny went to pick Drew up from her after school program.

"Why are you picking me up?" Drew asked.

"No one else was available so your dad asked me to come get you." Destiny replied.

"Oh... Well thanks. You know, if I had a car this wouldn't be a burden on everyone."

"Are you seriously asking for a car when you're grounded?"

"I'm just saying."

"Your dad would love for you to have a car but he doesn't want to reward bad behavior. Keep up what you've been doing and I'm sure he'll get you a car... I do want to tell you that I'm really proud of you for beginning to follow your own lead. I've noticed you've been a lot better."

"Really? Thanks. I've really tried... I never really noticed what I was doing before... I mean I knew it was wrong but I wasn't mature enough to do better."

"I know we're not really close and you and Nic probably aren't crazy about me but I do care about you guys and not just because your father and I are together now. Remember when you and Nic were really young, you two used have sleepovers at my house?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. That's when Miry, Nic and I were really close. I was like three years old then. Why'd the sleepovers stop?"

"That was my fault, I was kind of preoccupied after I had DJ."

"...If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my dad?"

"That's a dangerous agreement... But fine, what is it?"

"I've been dating Harvey. He's my boyfriend."

"Why is that a secret? Harvey is a great guy. It's a good thing that you're with him."

"I'm glad you think so because I'm not so sure that my dad will be ok with it since he doesn't really get along with the Fords."

"You have nothing to worry about. His issues with the Fords are very petty at this point. Your dad doesn't even have time to focus on it anymore, besides, he loves Starr and he knows she has great kids. Just tell him, he won't mind and if he does, I'll talk to him myself, ok?"

"Thanks Destiny... And for the record, I never had a problem with you. Nicki does but I don't. I know that you've always looked out for us even if it was from the sidelines and I know that you're a good person."

"I appreciate that Drew."

-v-

Miracle went over to LaBoulé to talk to Izzy's mom, Rayan. Rayan, her twin sons, Ryan and B.K lived in the guest house with Brendan Thornhart. Rayan and Brendan have been married for three years now. Miracle was hoping Brendan wouldn't be around so that she could talk to Rayan alone.

"Hey Miry! What brings you here?" Rayan asked.

"I need to talk to you... It's about Izzy." Miracle said.

"Come in... I hope it isn't anything serious. Is she alright?"

"Not really? Her boyfriend is abusing her."

"No! I can't believe this. Are you sure?"

"Yes. I saw the black eye and everything and she's acting like she did when Oswaldo was abusing her."

Rayan went on a rant in Spanish.

"The scars from what Oswaldo did to her are deeper than what we thought. Ugh! Why did I marry him in the first place? Times like this, I wish I had a big strong husband to could whip some ass... You never heard say that... Izzy needs counseling and an intervention... I'll get her to go away with me for a few days and when we come back we'll have an intervention for her. I can't let me baby be abused again." Rayan said.

-v-

After talking to Destiny, Drew felt better about telling her dad she was dating Harvey. She was ready to stop hiding it.

Drew came down the stairs and into the living room and saw Matthew on the couch playing with Del. Matthew had her for the weekend.

"Daddy, can we talk?" Drew asked.

"Sure." Matthew replied then Drew joined him on the couch. "Del, won't you head to the kitchen and get your snack ok."

"Ok daddy!" Del said before leaving the room.

"What's up? You said 'daddy' so you must want something." Matthew said.

"I don't want anything. I just have something to tell you."

"I hope it's not bad news."

"No!"

"You're not getting off punishment."

"It's not about that!"

"Ok, I'm listening."

"... I have a boyfriend."

"Really? Since when?"

"Uh... Since about six months ago."

"More sneaky secrets huh?"

"Ugh! Dad, it's not like that. Would you just listen? I didn't know how you'd react but I'm really trying to be honest here. I talked to Destiny and she said it was a good idea to tell you and you wouldn't overreact."

"You talked to Destiny before you talked to me?" Matthew asked, surprised.

"Ugh! Does it matter? I talked to some mature adult. Isn't that the important thing?"

"You're right. I'm sorry so who is this guy? He better be treating you right."

"He's Harvey Ford."

"... Starr's son... Hm."

"What does that mean?"

"I wouldn't have thought... Eh... I guess that's fine. Hopefully he's more like his father and Starr then his uncles or grandfathers."

"He is! I promise, he's the best guy in the world."

"Good... Invite him over for dinner."

"Really?"

"Yes. He better not be like his uncles."

"He's not daddy."

"... Thanks for being honest with me." Drew left the room excited and skipping.  
Looks like I'm making progress with one of my girls." Matthew smiled.

-v-

Matthew gets Del every weekend from Friday to Sunday. Dani was supposed to pick Del up on Sunday and she never showed. Now it's Monday, a school day and Matthew never received a phone call or anything. He tried to call her and he got no answer but he knew she was fine because he heard through the grapevine that she was out on Sunday, someone saw her go home. This was out of character for Dani but she had been doing a lot of out of the ordinary things lately. Every since Matthew and Shane took her out of the club that night she had been avoiding conversation with him and lately she had been having other people pick up Del and never wanted Matthew to come to the house. Destiny had even seen her less and less. Matthew was fed up with the nonsense and wanted to get to the bottom of her out of the ordinary behavior.

Matthew took the kids, including Del to school then headed to Dani's house. After a long wait Vida answered the door.

"Why aren't you in school?" Matthew asked.

"First of all, you're not my daddy, you're Del's daddy. Secondly, my mom is really sick. She's been sick every since last night. That's why she couldn't get Del and she was too sick to take me to school."

"Your mom went out last night."

"Yeah and she came home sick."

"I don't believe you."

"Nobody asked you to believe me. It's the truth. Deal with it."

"I want to see her."

"I told you she's sick you idiot."

"You're ten years old with a mouth like that?"

"Don't worry about my mouth." Vida rolled her eyes. "Come back another time." Vida quickly closed the door in Matthew's face, locked it, leaned against it and slid down to the floor.

-v-

Miracle was having lunch with Hope so that they could talk outside the office. Talking to Hope really seemed to be helping her move on.

"Maybe I was a little pushy with Leon... It's only because I love him so much." Miracle said.

"Maybe after some time, you two can get back together." Hope replied.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen any time soon." Miracle gazed outside thinking she saw Nicole but no way, Nicole was supposed to be in school... But it was her alright and she was all over a man who looked like he was at least Miracle's age. "Oh hell no! That heffa is trippin. Excuse me, Hope. I have to handle my little fast tail sister." Miracle quickly walked outside to them. Nicole was in shock. "Hey Nic! Hello, I'm Nicole's oldest sister Miracle and you are?"

"I'm Dan."

"Dan! How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Why?"

"Miracle, can you just-" Nicole started.

"I asked the guy a question." Miracle said.

"Not that it's any of your business but I'm twenty-one." Dan replied.

"Are you now? And what are you to my sister?"

"Her boyfriend. What's up with the third degree?"

"Boyfriend!"

"Miracle!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Did you know Nicole was only sixteen?" Miracle asked.

"Sixteen? You're sixteen?" Dan asked.

"Yep, you're about to catch a case." Miracle said.

"Dan, I'm sorry. I just like you so much." Nicole said.

"I can't believe you're sixteen!"

"Now you know so stay away from her before you end up behind bars. Let's go Nicole." Miracle said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. You're not my mother!" Nicole said.

Miracle got closer to her. "Don't you dare make a scene. Now move it."

Miracle said goodbye to Hope and took Nicole to her car.

"Really Nic? You're dating a twenty-one year old? What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you not in school? Dad has someone watching you to make sure you don't cut, how did you get passed them?"

"Come on, no one figured I'd find a way around that after a couple weeks? Please."

"Well your hot ass is going to learn today. Wait until dad finds out about this."

"You're going to tell dad? You're Ms. Goody Two Shoes, Ms. Had a Baby at Sixteen?"

"Oh you're going to throw that in my face, huh? No, I'm not perfect. I made one mistake. At sixteen I may have had a baby but I wasn't dating men five years older than me. I wasn't skipping school. I wasn't sneaking out and goings parties. I wasn't doing drugs and drinking and I wasn't getting tattoos and piercings. So that's my one against your one hundred. Try again. Now are you having sex with that guy?"

"None of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes. You better be using protection... Ooh, wait until dad hears about this."

"You're not telling dad."

"The hell I'm not!"

"If you tell dad, I'll make sure all of Llanview knows that you don't know who the father of your son is."

"Oh so now you want to blackmail me and spread a big ass lie about your own sister and nephew. Honey, I've been with one man and we were friends our entire lives. There's nothing slutty about me but if you want to spread lies, you want to tell the press some BS about me, here's the phone. Go ahead and make your phone calls. Who are you going to call, Aunt Vicki because she won't print it? Vic Lord? He's damn sure not going to print it. Todd Manning? He won't print it either. You going to try to get Bre to put that BS in her magazine because you know she won't? I guess your last choice is to leak it on the Internet or Access Llanview or something but I can call Aunt Viki, Vic and Bre to straighten that all out so you want to tell lies on me and blackmail me, go right ahead. What else you got? Whatever you do, I'm still telling dad as soon as I see him."

"Everyone can know you're crazy too and receiving psychiatric treatment."

"Twist the truth if you want to. I don't care. You want crazy, I'll show you crazy. Don't play games with me. You won't win."

When they got to the Buchanan mansion, Matt wasn't there. He was working from B.E today but Miracle definitely was not going to let Nicole off the hook like Ace and Drew had done.

* * *

_I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter. Believe me, I think you're all going to love the next chapter!_


	5. Are You Kidding Me?

Are You Kidding Me?

Destiny sat in her doctor's office waiting for her doctor to come back in the room. She hadn't been feeling well and that was out of the ordinary because she's as healthy as a horse.

The doctor walked in.

"What's up doc? Give it to me straight. I'm never sick like this. It can't be good... If I didn't know any better I'd say I was pregnant but that's ridiculous." Destiny laughed hard. The doctor just smiled sweetly. "Ok, so what is it really? Why do you have that look on your face?"

"Congratulations Ms. Price. You're with child." The doctor said.

Destiny got really serious and just stared at the doctor as if she was waiting for her to finish a joke.

"That's not funny."

"... It wasn't a joke."

"I'm... pre-pregnant? Let me see that." Destiny had to see the doctor's results for herself. "You're freaking kidding me!"

"I take it, this wasn't planned."

"Hell no! I'm thirty-nine years old, I was so done! Ugh! How did this happen?"

"You see, the sperm fertilizes the egg and-"

"Don't try to be funny doc. I'm on birth control! Oh but I switched my birth control and- How far along am I?"

"Six weeks."

"Oh my God. I cannot believe this, CANNOT believe this. Ugh!"

Destiny was so irritated. She went to the ladies room in the hospital and looked in the mirror. She had a flashback of when she was seventeen, took a pregnancy test and read that it was positive. She was at the hospital because she was visiting Matthew who was at the time. She went to Matthew's room and told him the news even though he was unconscious. She remembered how lonely and afraid she felt at the time.

"Here we go again." Destiny said.

After Destiny left the hospital she picked up DJ from school then headed to the Buchanan mansion. DJ had a rehearsal with the band in the Buchanan garage. The only one downstairs of the mansion was Matthew. They were alone so it was the perfect time to tell him.

"My Destiny has arrived!" Matthew exclaimed happily but Destiny didn't look too psyched. "Oh, my Destiny doesn't look too bright."

"Would you stop with puns with my name?"

"Somebody's cranky today."

Destiny joined Matthew on the couch and she looked annoyed so Matthew decided to stop playing.

"What's up babe?" Matthew asked.

Destiny looked at him for a moment. "... I'm pregnant."

"What?" Matthew got excited. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm playing?"

"You don't seem too happy about it."

"I told you I don't want anymore kids. I've been a mother since I was eighteen. DJ is thirteen. In five years, I would finally have time for just me. I could be selfish for a little while but now I'm going to be tied down for another eighteen years. Don't get me wrong, I love Miracle and DJ and I love this baby but I just want some me time."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Are you really? You wanted another baby... For some reason."

"I wanted another baby because I love you and I wanted another child with the love of my life so yes I'm happy about it but I'm sorry you're not. Weren't you on birth control?"

"Yeah but I switched birth control and well here we are, the damn thing isn't full proof. You used condoms though."

"... Well I may have forgotten once or twice... or five times at the most."

"You forgot? Are you kidding me?" Destiny picked up the pillow next to her then beat him with it. "That's why you have all these kids now! You need to get a vasectomy!"

"Come on! You didn't remember either. Besides, you were on birth control, we didn't really need it."

"Obviously we did, besides, it's called being responsible."

"We can't change it now... Aren't you at least a little bit happy?"

"Yeah... Babies are exciting... I'll get over my issues sooner or later."

"We're in this together." Matthew assured her and kissed her forehead but now Destiny looked skeptical.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Be honest with me like you always are."

"... Maybe I'm a little afraid that history will repeat itself. You were there for Miracle but you didn't really give one hundred percent. You didn't really give one hundred percent to any of your kids until recently."

"I've changed Destiny. Trust me completely and I give you my word I will not disappoint you." He touched her stomach and pulled her closer to him. "I can't wait to tell everyone."

"No! Not yet. It's still early, let's just wait until at least the second trimester before we tell everyone. Let's just tell the kids for now, ok?"

"Ok. I'll wait." Destiny had never seen Matthew that excited to find out he had a baby on the way, ever.

Miracle and Nicole then walked into the room.

"Nicole, why are you home? Dad is on his way to pick you, your sisters and brother up from school." Matthew asked.

"She cut school. I saw her at The Palace." Miracle said.

"What? I have someone watching you." Matthew said.

"She found a way around that." Miracle said.

"I can't believe this." Matthew said.

"That's not all. You're not ready for this one. Nicole has been dating a twenty-one year old man. He didn't know how old she was." Miracle explained.

"You have got to be kidding me! You can't be tamed! That's it. Enough is enough. Starting the next semester you're going to be home-schooled."

"Home-schooled?" Nicole echoed.

"Yes! Get out of my face. I don't want to look at you." Matthew said and Nicole went upstairs. Then Matthew called Bo to let him know that Nicole wasn't there for him to pick up. "I just don't know what else to do with her. Even keeping her close isn't working. Anymore suggestions Des?"

"I've got nothing at the moment." Destiny replied.

"The guy now knows how old she is and he said he's going to stay away from her so hopefully that helps. She must've been cutting school to see him this entire time."

"How could I miss this? I'm trying so hard and I'm still failing." Matthew said in frustration. Now that he is giving one hundred percent it seems like he can't get away from the consequences of when he was giving fifty percent. He really blamed himself for the way Nicole had turned out but the rest of the kids turned out alright so why is she such a mess? Sure Drew was on rocky ground before but she turned it around. Maybe this was just Nicole's nature but he had to change her. The situation angered him, he had no idea what to do. Destiny didn't even have a solution and his motto was usually, 'When in doubt, ask Destiny,' so now what?"

-v-

Miracle wanted to check on her horse, Snow before she went to the garage to meet with Infinity. All of Matthew's kids had a their own horse from the time they were old enough to name them and appreciate having one of their own.

When Miracle walked into the stable she saw Ace and Eva leaning in for a kiss.

"Ooh! Y'all have been catching feelings? I didn't see this one coming!" Miracle exclaimed.

"This is awkward." Eva said.

"No, no, no! Continue on with your little puppy love. I'm not too sure John will be too thrilled with his baby girl kissing a boy but hey. I'm just visiting Snow. I won't pay you two any mind but I do need to hear you all rehearse before I pick up Evan from school then I'll be back so you might want to move quickly. Carry on." Miracle went to visit her horse and show her some affection.

Meanwhile, Ace & Eva were still trying to get over the awkwardness of being caught red handed.

"Maybe we should just go back to the garage." Ace said.

"Yeah. I agree." Eva replied.

"Do you think it'd be weird if everyone knew about us?"

"A little... Miry's right though, my dad is not ready to deal with me dating." Ace and Eva went back to the garage.

After Miracle heard Infinity rehearse for a moment she went to pick up Evan. Then she stopped by the Buenas Dias to order something to-go. She talked to Evan about his day while they waited.

"Excuse me, I'm new here. Do you have any recommendations as to what I should try?" A guy who was sitting next to Miracle asked. He was medium brown, tall, and muscular with light brown eyes and fresh hair cut. Miracle couldn't help but quickly study his look before she answered the question.

"You should definitely try the pies. They're the best in town but honestly, everything is delicious here."

"Thanks... Your son is adorable."

"Thank you."

"I'm Irvin by the way."

"Nice to meet you Irvin. I'm Miracle. This is Evan."

"Nice to meet you both. Miracle is a beautiful name."

"Thanks, it was my mom's idea. It represents the miracles of life including life itself."

"Even more beautiful. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

Miracle blushed. Her order was now ready so it was time to go.

"If you're available and interested, may I have your number?" Irvin asked.

Miracle put her fingers through her big curly, contemplating her answer.

"Sure... Why not?"

-v-

Outside the Buenas Dias was Izzy and her boyfriend, Martin. Izzy had just gotten back from a getaway with her mom. Little did Izzy know, there was an intervention coming up just for her. Even though Izzy had only been back in Llanview a few hours, she quickly got away from Rayan and met up with Martin but already they were in a heated argument, an argument in which Martin was dominating. After many harsh words he pulled back his hand with intention to smack her so hard she'd see stars. Before his hand even met her face, someone had ran over and caught it.

"Liam." Izzy said, surprised he was in town, let alone standing in front of her and stopping what was about to happen.

"Who are you?" Martin asked.

"No. The question is who do you THINK you are? Don't you ever in your life even attempt to put your hands on her again. Do you hear me?" Liam intimidating tone.

"That's my woman." Martin said.

"Izzy is not your property. Hurt her and you'll have to deal with me."

"Fine." Martin punched Liam. Then they got into a fight.

"Oh God." Izzy said then ran into the diner. "They're fighting! Someone, please break them up!"

Irvin and another guy ran out and broke them up.

"If you ever go near Izzy again, I will make your life a living hell. A living hell!" Liam yelled. Martin walked away, heated then Liam went inside the diner along with Irvin and the other guy who broke them up.

"Who was that guy?" Liam asked Izzy.

"My boyfriend." Izzy replied.

"He treats you like that and he's your boyfriend?"

"I don't have time for this right now." Izzy said, annoyed.

"Liam, please try to talk some sense into her." Miracle said.

"Would you mind your business for once?" Izzy asked annoyed.

"No." Miracle replied simply. "It's nice to see you cous." Miracle said goodbye to Irvin then she and Evan left.

-v-

Nicole sneaked out of the house again and got a friend to drive her to Dan's room at the Angel Square Hotel. He opened the door annoyed to see her.

"What the hell are you doing here? I didn't sign up to date a teen in high school, jail bate." Dan said.

"I'm sorry I lied to you but you wouldn't have given me the time of day if you knew I was sixteen from the jump." Nicole replied.

"You're damned right. Go home."

"Please Dan. You like me, I like you. We had fun. I'm still me. You never questioned my maturity before."

"This isn't about what I'm questioning. This about the facts and the fact is I've been dating a child."

"You've committed worst crimes. You commit crimes for a living. This isn't close to being the worst one."

"Yeah but dating a child, that's just perverted. I may be a lot of things but pervert is not on the list."

"You can't let me go that easily." Nicole kissed him passionately and he let her into the apartment. Then Dan stopped the kiss.

"No. We can't do this."

"We've already done this... Just one more time." They kissed again and went all the way.

Fourty-five minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Dan took his time to get to it.

"Dan!" The guy exclaimed when the door opened.

"Kory, what are you doing here?" Dan asked.

"Better me than my mom. What the hell is going on with you? We haven't been hearing good news. You came here to stay out of trouble." Kory replied.

"I came here to getaway from trouble. I never said I'd stay out of it."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Please, you aren't Mr. Goody Two Shoes either."

"Whatever. Are you going to let me in?"

"No. I've got company."

"Oh well, we need to talk." Kory barged in anyway. "Who is this?"

"That's Nicole. Nicole, this is my cousin Kory." Nicole was in Dan's big tee-shirt.

"She looks young." Kory said. This is one time Nicole didn't try to hide her age since it didn't matter anymore. Dan knew the truth now.

"Don't worry about that. Why are you here?" Dan tried to take the attention away from Nicole.

"Wait... How old are you?" Kory asked Nicole.

"Don't worry about how old she is. You're not supposed to be in Llanview."

"I'm trying to keep you out of trouble."

"I'm older than you and I can handle myself. You know that... Too bad we can't chat but I have to get Nicole home so I'll see you... whenever." Nicole went to go get dressed.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying for a while. My bags are in the car." Kory sat down and put his feet up.

Dan was irritated. He did not want his cousin in his business. Soon Nicole came out dressed so Dan could take her home.

-v-

Miracle was riding passed the Angel Square Hotel when she saw Nicole and Dan coming out.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Miracle exclaimed then pulled over so that she could follow them. After following them for a few minutes, she called Matthew on her car phone and let him know that Nicole was with Dan. He couldn't believe it. How does she keep sneaking out without getting caught? They seemed to be going to the Buchanan mansion and they were. Matthew came outside once they arrived. Nicole didn't expect to get caught.

Matthew opened the driver's side door of Dan's car.

"You're still seeing my daughter after you found out how old she is?" Matthew asked.

"She came to see me, alright? I brought her right back. I'm not seeing her again." Dan replied.

"I don't believe you."

"With all due respect SIR, you're just going to have to have to take my word for it." Dan got out the car and looked Matthew in the eyes.

Matthew became inflamed by Dan's audacity to step to him after seeing his underage daughter. He paused for a moment then punched Dan in the face.

"Darn dad, did you have to hit him?" Miracle thought to herself then looked back at Evan. "E, don't move, ok?" Miracle got out of her car. Dan was parked right in front of her so they were fighting just a few steps away from her car. Would you two stop?" Miracle yelled. "Damn, where are big, strong men when you need them? Ugh!"

It wasn't long before the LPD showed up. The neighbors must have heard the commotion and called them. The cops broke up the fight and handcuffed them both.

"Miry, would you let your mom know so she can bail me out and keep an eye on Nicole?" Matthew asked.

"Sorry, Dan." Nicole said.

"Girl, get your ass in the car!" Miracle exclaimed. Miracle and Nicole got in her car so that she could drive it into the garage. They were parked out on the street so they were nowhere near the garage door.

Miracle, Nicole and Evan entered the mansion. Miracle let Destiny know what happened then they went to watch the band and Destiny went to the police station and bailed Matthew out.

"Matthew, did you have to hit that boy?" Destiny asked.

"Hell yeah! He's having relations with my teenaged daughter."

"I know why you did it but come on, you can't afford to keep getting blows to the head. You never even recovered from the blow you got twenty-two years ago. Every time you get into a fight you end up having a problem with your head. Please, don't get into anymore fights."

"I promise I won't, ok?"

"From what I heard, he could have easily taken you but he went easy on you probably because you were Nicole's dad... Maybe because your old too."

"I'm not old."

"You're eighteen years older than him. That's a big difference when you're fighting."

"Well... He did look like he could've taken me but all I was thinking about was this grown ass man with my daughter."

"I know."

"I sued him on charges of statutory rape."

"As you should."

"You know he had a nerve to tell me he would be out in no time and the charges would disappear? He said the case would never even make it to court."

Matthew went upstairs to get himself together. A few minutes later Nicole walked into the living room where Destiny was.

"Oh gosh." Nicole said, annoyed.

"I never did anything to you." Destiny said.

"Whatever." Nicole rolled her eyes.

"When your dad comes back down he's going to want to talk to you."

"He's not here now so don't talk to me. I'm going to my room. I don't want to be around you."

That was the last straw.

"I am so not in the mood today. Get in that chair and have a seat now!"

"You are not my mother."

"I don't think you want to test me right now! Sit!"

Nicole decided not to test her and have a seat.

"Your dad keeps talking to you and it's not working. Your mom won't talk to you so guess what, you're going to listen to me. If you had kept your mouth shut, you wouldn't have to listen to me right now. See where a big mouth get you? Now have you lost your mind, dating a grown man five years older than you? You make bad and immature decisions all the time and you somehow think you're mature enough to date a grown ass man? You're sneaking out of the house, going to parties with people a lot older than you, doing drugs, drinking. What the hell is wrong with you? You are trying to grow up way too fast. You have a father who loves you and you show him no respect. You are a spoiled little brat! You have so many people who love you, don't you get that? There are children in the world who would love to have the family, the love and the money that you have. Now you aren't going anywhere until you reveal to me why you feel the need to be so damn rebellious."

"Daddy's little girlfriend is so concerned about his little rebellious daughter" Nicole said, sarcastically.

"Answer me. I already told you, you don't want to test me."

Destiny's approach was different from any other adult who tried to talk any sense into Nicole and unlike everyone else, she wouldn't just give up after she got tired of her not responding. Frankly, Destiny intimidated her a little even though she knew Destiny was probably one of the nicest people in the world but she also knew she was no joke to mess with. That had a lot to do with why Nicole didn't like Destiny too much, if she actually got close to her she probably wouldn't be able to get away with too much but that wasn't her only problem with Destiny.

"You talk about my dad like he's the best dad in the world. He's hardly been number one dad. He was drunk most of my life so he's hardly given all he could give as a father and why? Because he loved you. That was his excuse for being an alcoholic and a pathetic father, a pathetic person. That's the worst thing I've ever heard. Because he had a stupid broken heart he became worthless to everyone. He even put work before us. What makes it even worst is that not only did he love you like you were God's gift to earth but he never loved my mother. Do you know what it feels like to know that you weren't made out of love, that you were just some accidental result from a one night stand who was never meant to be seen or spoken to again? Miracle was his favorite because she came from you then Ace was second to Miracle because he was the only boy. Now all of a sudden, after being a half-ass father for most of my life he decided he wanted to be there. That's not good enough. He wants to play daddy now, he's going to have to work for it. To top it all off, he got full custody of me and Drew after not being there then kept our mothers away from us. My mother may not have been everyone's idea of a great mother but she was always there. The one person who has always been there for me no matter what, he kept away from me for over a year. I can't get that time back. I will not forgive him. You wonder why I wanted an older guy, the answer is simple. I didn't want a little boy and I wanted someone who was into what I was into and I wanted someone who I felt safe with. End of story."

"...Oh..." Destiny replied. Destiny wasn't going to let her go without an answer but she didn't expect all that. "You're absolutely right about your father not being the best father in the past but he does love you. He's always loved you. Nothing could ever change that and he loves you unconditionally. It may be hard to believe but it's true. He just wants the best for you. I get it, you're hurt but you're not hurting him by doing everything that you've been doing. You're only hurting yourself. If you continue to do this, you're going to suffer the consequences in the long run and it won't be the result of anything your dad or anyone else does to punish you. It will just be the result of your actions. Everything in life has a domino effect and once the first domino falls you won't be able to stop it... Don't you realize that both your sisters feel exactly how you feel, neglected and second to everything? The difference is they're not letting how they feel or felt effect their decisions in life. They also realize that he is trying so hard to be a good, no, great father. It may be late but better later than never. You could lose him one day and you won't have anymore chances to fix your relationship. Here's another lesson for you, if you let the pain that people cause you, no matter who caused it effect what you do in your life, they win and you lose."

".. You got me to reveal my soul, so now what?"

"I'm going to talk to your father then you are going to talk to him and you're going to be honest then you're going suffer the consequences of your actions. Then you're not going to do it again and when you do have a problem, since you want to be so grown you're going to talk to him about it like an adult. Agreed?" Nicole didn't answered. "Agreed?" Destiny yelled.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. We have an understanding. We've made progress."

Destiny talked to Matthew about Nicole and he felt awful. Then he talked to Nicole and he still was going to have her home-schooled, at least for the rest of this school year and he was going to stick with the punishment that was already in place but he understood her more. He was going to try everything he could to mend his relationship with her and get her back on track.

After all that chaos, Destiny took Eva home and she, Miracle, DJ and Evan went home to their house.

"Now that we're home and things have settled down, I have to talk to y'all."

"What's up mom?" Miracle asked.

"We should all sit." Destiny said. They all gathered in the living room.

"Ok, what I'm about to say is a big deal and it effects all of us."

"...So what is it?" DJ asked. Destiny took a deep breath.

"... I'm... Pregnant."

Miracle and DJ laughed. Evan joined in just so that he didn't feel left out.

"You're joking right?" Miracle asked.

"No." Destiny replied simply.

"Mom! After the talk you've given me about protection and everything, you're pregnant? Hypocrite!"

"Excuse me... Watch the tone... Ok, I know I slipped up. This was not at all what I wanted but in seven and a half months we will have a new edition to our family."

"Are you going to marry Matthew?" DJ asked, hoping he heard the answer he wanted to hear.

"No sweetie, we're not getting married."

"What I don't understand is how you can have another baby with a man who wasn't that great of a co-parent the first time."

"Believe me Miracle, everything running through your head has already run through mine. I am very nervous about this and I was not planning on having anymore children but now there's one coming and I just gave an entire speech about how he's changed and how much he loves his kids but yes, the past runs through my head. I have to deal with this and hope for the best. I'll be right back." Destiny went upstairs.

"Why'd you ask mom if they were getting married?" Miracle asked.

"Because I don't want them to get married." DJ replied.

"Neither do I but I won't tell her that. If marrying him makes her happy then let her get married. She won't marry him if she knows we don't want her to."

"You just grilled her for having another baby with him."

"Yeah but if marriage doesn't work out they could get divorced, if co-parenting doesn't work out she's still stuck with him for another eighteen years."

"Easy for you to say, if they get married you're not the one who has to move."

"I'll tell you what, if they get married I'll move into the Buchanan mansion too."

"...Fine."

"So tell mom that you don't care if they get married so if she ever wants to marry him she doesn't have to stop what makes her happy because of us. Honestly, I don't think she wants to marry him anyway, let's just give her the option."


	6. Love Jones

Love Jones

_A few weeks later..._

Matthew was making some business calls. He had just bought Capricorn and was very excited about the new business venture.

After his last phone call the doorbell rung. The butler announced Dani.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Matthew said.

"Why? We share a daughter." Dani replied.

"You seem to have been forgetting."

"Never!" Dani laughed then unsteadily walked over to the couch and flopped on it.

"Are you high?" Matthew asked, a bit surprised. It was one thing to see her getting wild in the club drunk but it's another thing to see her on a different kind of high and in the middle of the day. Plus she's been acting very strange lately and has hardly kept in touch with Destiny. No one has really spoken to her as much as usual.

"No!" Dani replied like it was ridiculous. "If I'm high off anything, I'm high off life... You know I was thinking, it'd be fun to take a trip down memory lane, you know?" Dani caressed Matthew's chest.

"... No, I don't know. Are you losing it?"

"Of course not! It'd just be fun to take a good roll in the hay."

"Roll in the hay? Follow my finger."

"I'm not high! I told you that. What could I possibly be high on? I just want to feel you inside of me."

"Wow. Listen Dani, I love Destiny and I'm not about to mess that up for you or anybody else. I refuse to make the same mistake twice so whatever your problem is you need to handle it without me."

"Destiny doesn't have to know. It'll be our little secret."

"Is that right?" Destiny walked into the living room. She had been listening every since she came into the mansion and she heard enough to know what was going on.

"Destiny! It's not what it looked like."

"So you're going to lie to my face? Here I thought you were my best friend. It's good to know the truth though. Get the hell out. This friendship is o-v-e-r, over! Don't ever talk to me again and keep your contact with Matthew to a minimum. Goodbye!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Out!"

Dani headed toward the door.

"Wait, did you drive here?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dani replied.

"No, you're not. Shane!" Matthew called him from upstairs and asked him to take her home. "I did not touch her!" Matthew exclaimed when Dani and Shane left.

"Matthew, you don't have to explain. I heard everything but I can't believe her! We've been friends for twenty-three years, twenty-three freaking years and she betrays me like it's nothing. I am a great person, an amazing friend and this is what I get? Do I have a sign on my back saying, 'Stab me?' We called each other, sisters and it meant nothing." Destiny was heated but most of all, she was extremely hurt.

"I don't think she really meant it. She was high. I could tell. I don't know what she was high on but I know she was. I'm getting even more concerned about Del and Vida."

"High? Really?" Destiny was surprised. She didn't pay attention to what she looked like, she just heard what she said. "Well I don't care, being high doesn't get her off the hook. I'm tired of people using drugs and alcohol to justify their actions. Let's be honest, the difference from being high and sober is that when you're high you do what you only think about doing when you're sober. Like they say, a drunk man tells no lies."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Here's an example. Do you remember years ago when you were completely wasted and I helped you, took you to rehab? You kissed me but you wouldn't have done that if you were sober. When you were sober you would only think about it."

"You have a point but I was sober when I bragged about it to Darren."

"Lucky for you he didn't knock you out." Destiny wished he didn't remind her of that. "... Anyway, thank you."

"For what?"

"For loving me and respecting me enough to turn down free cookies from the cookie jar, cheap cookies." Destiny sat on his lap facing toward him and kissed him.

"Destiny, I will always choose you. I love you. I'm not going to lose you again. I spent decades wishing I could be with you and regretting letting you go in the first place. I'd be a fool to do it again. I don't long to be with another woman because I know there's no one else for me. All I need is you."

Destiny smiled then kissed him again.

"I love you... And the kids are in school so I think I have plenty of time to show you how much." Destiny got up and put her hand out for Matthew to take.

"Oh I like the sound of that." They ran up to Matthew's room like two teenagers.

-v-

Miry was on her first date with Irvin. They were at Angel Square Park having a wonderful picnic.

"Did you prepare this delightful picnic yourself?" Miracle asked.

"Yes I did." Irvin replied.

"I'm impressed! So tell me more about you. What do you do?"

"I'm a computer hardware engineer."

"Interesting!"

"What about you?"

"I'm a manager and writer for a band I put together and I'm working on new clothing line."

"Well aren't you diverse! Tell me about this band."

"It consists of my little brothers, my little cousin and my little aunt."

"Little aunt?"

Miracle laughed. "Yeah. She's fourteen... That seems to be a common thing in my family for some reason... The group is called Infinity. It's kind of pop, R&B, punk, they have a unique sound. They are so good! I think it's the best idea I ever had."

"I'm glad you let me take you out. The first thing I noticed was that you are gorgeous then it was obvious that you're a good mom so I had to know more about you."

"You seemed like a really nice guy and the first thing I noticed was that you were gorgeous too. Obviously, the physical attraction was there."

Across the park was Leon and his new girl, Flora. They were just taking a walk through when Leon spotted Miracle on her date with Irvin. He was surprised and caught off guard.

"I see an old friend, let's go say hi." Leon said and walked over to Miracle and Leon. "What's up? Fancy, running into you here."

"Dido." Miracle replied feeling awkward about the current situation. "Irvin, this is Leon and?"

"This is Flora." Leon introduced, filling in the blank. "Flora, this is Miracle."

"So is Flora your girlfriend?" Miracle asked.

"Yes. Irvin your boyfriend?"

"It's our first date but it looks promising." Miracle replied.

"Oh... This was nice. We're going to go now." Leon and Flora walked away.

"I'm so sorry about that! That was all very awkward. Sorry if you were uncomfortable." Miracle said.

"... It's ok. Let me guess, that was your ex-boyfriend."

"Yeah and my son's father. We've been friends since we were babies and that's all we are now. Our situation is not full of drama. I promise."

-v-

Meanwhile, Matthew and Destiny were cuddled in Matthew's bed after their steamy love session in the middle of the afternoon.

"Have you had any problems with your head since the fight?" Destiny asked.

"No..." Matthew replied unconvincingly.

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

"I'm fine. What about you? How are you and our baby doing?"

"Morning sickness has kicked in but we're good. While we're on the subject, we have a prenatal appointment next week."

"We?"

"Yes we."

"I've never been to any of the appointments for my other kids... I was there when they were born. I was in a coma when you were pregnant with Miry, Miley was always in L.A. I guess I don't really have an excuse for the others. No ones ever invited me."

"Well there's a first time for everything and I'm not inviting you, I'm telling you. Besides, we get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Trust me, you don't want to miss it."

"You seem to be coming around to us having another baby."

"I told you I'd deal with it. Feeling how I feel doesn't mean I don't care or love our baby. It's growing inside of me. It's not like I can ignore it... What's on your agenda for tonight?"

"Miry and I are going to have dinner at the Buenas Dias."

"Aww, father/daughter bonding time, I love it! DJ and I are going to have some mother/son bonding tonight too."

-v-

Izzy was eating alone at Rodi's when Liam walked in and noticed her. He went over and joined her at the table.

"How are you?" Liam asked.

"Fine." Izzy replied sourly.

"I can't believe you're angry with me for protecting you. I don't understand what's going on in your head. You fought so hard to get away from your dad now you're dating someone just like him."

"He's not my dad remember, his name is Oswaldo... I'm tired of everyone trying to protect me. My entire family has given me an intervention, I don't need one from you too."

"Why are you doing this to yourself? You want to help people like you but you need the help now... I love you. I just want the best for you."

"...Sometimes there's comfort in what you know, even when it's bad. He seemed like a really nice guy at first. He showered me with gifts but then he became possessive. It got worst after we had sex then he became abusive. I should have saw the signs but I was blind and then I couldn't let go."

"You had sex with him? You mean HE was your first?"

"Yes."

"Oh my gosh, Izzy. Him?"

"Did you think I was just going to wait for you? I didn't know when you were coming back or if when you did, you would stay. You were in L.A living your life. What was I supposed to do? Stop mine? I moved on. I wasn't about to wait around for some guy who was on the other side of the country who I fell for in high school."

"So the alternative was that loser? You deserve better! Come with me."

Liam took Izzy to his apartment and kissed her like never before as soon as he closed the door. She was speechless for a few moments.

"What was that about?" Izzy finally asked.

"That was a kiss of love. I don't care where I am or what I do, your name is written on my heart." He took Izzy to his room and showed her all the memorabilia he had of them. He saved everything that accumulated from the time he fell for her. "I don't care if I'm in the North Pole, if you need me I'll be there and if anyone ever hurts you I will be on the first flight to where ever you are and I will come swinging."

Tears began to fill Izzy's eyes. She saw how much he loved her and that love scared her a bit. She didn't grow up with too much of it. In the last few years she's had an abundance of it and she wasn't sure how to handle it. She was overwhelmed by it so she went back to what had become familiar to her, pain. Liam saying all these things to her made her realize how screwed up she was.

"Damn Liam! I don't know what to do with this. I'm afraid of love... I'm afraid to love. I'm a mess. Why do you want me?"

"I love you despite all that. I love you unconditionally. I love you because I do. Someone as amazing as you shouldn't get anything less."

She kissed him passionately and they soon landed on the bed. Liam had waited years to make love to the love of his life and he was ready to erase every time she had sex with that jerk, Martin out of her head.

-v-

Ace and Eva walked down the halls of LHS hand and hand.

"I got something for you." Ace said as they headed over to his locker. He opened it and pulled out a white teddy bear with a red heart where a heart would be."

"Aww! Ace! I love it!" Eva exclaimed.

"Press the heart."

"You're the best girl in the world!" The bear said after Eva pressed the heart. Eva kissed Ace on the cheek.

"You're so sweet! I'll keep it forever."

A few guys came over to them.

"Hey Buchanan! Your sister's a whore!" One of the guys exclaimed.

"What?" Ace was caught off guard but was instantly heated.

"You heard right. Your sister Nicole is a whore." One of the other guys co-signed.

Ace stepped closer to the group of guys.

"Take it back." Ace commanded.

"No need to take back what's true."

Eva noticed Ace tightening his fist.

"Ace don't, they're not even worth it." Eva said.

"Yeah, listen to your bit-"

Before the guy could finish his sentence Ace's fist met his face.

"Watch what you say!" Ace exclaimed. Chad ran over.

"Ace let's go. They're not worth you getting detention again. Besides, I have something you need to see." Chad said. Ace and Eva walked away with him.

"I'm so tired of those guys! I didn't have this problem in L.A." Ace said angrily.

"We're freshman. Freshman aren't popular anywhere. Thanks for defending me though." Eva said.

"They're just messing with you because they're jealous. You're a Buchanan and the son of Miley Cyrus." Chad said.

"You're a Buchanan and they don't bother you." Ace replied.

"You're Matthew's son. I'm Shane's son. People on the outside don't even see us as real Buchanan's. They forget half the time because our name is Balsom. Anyway, forget those assholes. We Buchanan's are about to be the talk of the town." Chad said.

"Why?" Ace asked.

"You're not going to like this." Chad pulled out his tablet and played a video. The video showed Nicole at the party from over a month ago when she was publicly having sex with Dan and high on ecstasy. The video continued until Drew's mom's boyfriend broke them up and got her out of there.

"My eyes!" Ace screamed. "I'm going to kill her! Half the time I'm getting detention because I'm defending her ass. And she's with that guy that's way too old for her too."

Meanwhile, Drew and Harvey were talking by his locker.

"My dad still wants to have dinner with us and my mom will be there too. There's just been a lot going on." Drew said.

"I understand." Harvey replied.

"I've been meaning to say something to you... I'm not ready to have sex any time soon."

"Good. Neither am I."

"Really?"

"My mom, your dad, Leon and Miry were teen parents. I don't think we need to join the club. A wise man learns from others mistakes."

"God, I love you. You're so smart and sensible. Give me kisses."

Harvey kissed her and they hugged. Then Ace, Eva and Chad came over and busted their bubble.

"You know that party you and our damned sister sneaked out to a while back?" Ace asked. It was obvious he was heated about something.

"Yeah, what about it?" Drew replied.

Ace held up Chad's tablet and played the video.

"Oh. My. Gosh. This is bad!" Drew exclaimed. "Why does she have make such horrible decisions? Let's go find her."

They all found her soon enough.

"I am going to kill you!" Ace exclaimed as soon as he laid eyes on her.

"Have you seen the video going around of you and Dan at the party?" Drew asked.

"How could I miss it? I've been getting called whore all day... And just when I decided to be a good girl. I guess it's pointless now." Nicole replied.

"No. You can't go back to your old ways. It's not pointless." Drew said.

"Whatever. Dad was going to have me home-schooled after this semester. Now he may send me to boarding school for real this time."

"How can you be so calm right now? Your reputation is completely tarnished and the entire family is going get back lashed for this. Not to mention, dad can now prove statutory rape with this video while he's suing that guy." Ace asked.

"Dan can handle himself and whatever is going to happen is going to happen. It's actually me in that video. I'll deal with what comes along with it." Nicole walked away.

"And just when she was trying to change. This sucks." Drew said.

-v-

Miracle and Matthew met up at the Buenas Dias for dinner. They were enjoying a great meal.

"We could've went to the Palace if you wanted." Matthew said.

"No, I wanted something more casual. So how was your day?" Miracle asked.

"I handled business, spent time with your mom. It was good. How was yours?"

"I had a date!"

"Good for you!"

"Then Leon showed up with his new girlfriend, bony lil thing. She's not his type."

"Do I sense jealousy?"

"No. You sense observation. Leon likes the Beyoncé types like me and Millicent." Miracle rolled her eyes at the thought of Millicent. "...Not the bony supermodel types."

"Maybe he likes her for her personality."

"If that were so, he would have been too focused on her to come worry about me and my date."

"You do have point... I'm glad we can talk like this now."

"Oh daddy, don't get all sentimental."

"Aww, you called me daddy! You never call me daddy anymore!" Matthew was getting excited. Look at the progress they've made. Alleluia!

"Daniel Edward Morgan!" They heard a woman's voice exclaim but they ignored it and continued with their conversation.

"Damn!" Daniel said under his breath after hearing the woman call his name. He turned to face her. She was headed in his direction. "Aunt Kristina, what are you doing here?"

"You obviously need me here supervise you. You're a grown ass man. You need to stop with your shenanigans! You publicly had sex with a teenage girl at a party? It's all over the Internet!" Kristina smacked him.

Matthew finally looked over at the people having this very public conversation. He couldn't believe his eyes and walked over to them.

"Kristina, Kristina Corinthos." Matthew said.

"Matthew..." Kristina uttered.

"You two know each other?" Daniel asked.

"We dated in college." Kristina replied.

"So wait a minute, Dan is your nephew?" Matthew asked.

"Yes..." Kristina said.

"I just heard you say he had sex with a teen at a party and it's all over the Internet. Who the hell is this teen?" In his head he was hoping it wasn't who he thought it was.

"I hope this is your cousin or something and not your child, not that it will make it better... It was Nicole Buchanan."

Matthew instantly gripped Daniel up. Miracle ran over.

"Dad, no! No more fights, remember?" Miracle reminded him.

Matthew wanted to hit something so bad. Rage was boiling over inside of him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Matthew yelled.

"I didn't know how old she was at the time, I swear. I didn't know until Miracle told me. I haven't even seen her since I dropped her off at your place that time." Daniel said.

"I'm not dropping the charges, you can believe that... What am I supposed to do about this?"

"Matthew, I'm so sorry." Kristina said.

Kory came in and walked over to them.

"Mom, is everything alright?" Kory asked.

"Yeah." Kristina replied.

"You have a son this old?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah. We should all go. Again, I'm so sorry for all the problems Daniel has caused you." Kristina said then quickly left with Daniel and Kory.

"So that's the bag of bones you cheated on mom with back in the day. She's pretty." Miracle said.

"Miracle."

"I'm trying to calm you down which is probably impossible right now. You ready to go so that you can deal with Nicole?"

They left the Buenas Dias. Miracle went to get Evan from Leon and Matthew headed home.

"Nicole!" Matthew yelled in a rage as soon as he walked in the door. Destiny and DJ were headed toward him. "What are you doing here?"

"I forgot my briefcase. What's wrong?" Destiny asked.

"You wouldn't believe what this girl has done now! I'm going to kill her! Ahhh!" Matthew screamed, holding his head.

"What's the matter now?"

"Nothing. What's taking her so long? Nicole get down here now!" Matthew paced back and forth in front of the couch. He soon held his head again like he was in pain then he sat down and started to hear loud ringing. "Ahhh!"

"Matthew, is it your head?" Destiny asked, concerned. "Don't tell me you're fine because you're obviously not." Matthew just nodded his head. "Where's your meds?"

"I ran out."

"What? Ran out?" Destiny was now the one snapping. "How long ago?"

"Last week."

"How long have you been having this problem again?"

"A day or two after the fight."

"That was weeks ago! You're just telling me? I asked you earlier. If you weren't in pain right now I'd hit you. Let's go! I'm taking you to the hospital."

"I don't want to go to the hospital."

"I'm not giving you a choice! Listen to me, you are not leaving me to go through another pregnancy by myself. I don't want you to end up in a coma again and I don't want to lose you so let's go."

DJ stayed at the mansion to hang out with Chad while Destiny took Matthew to the hospital. The entire way there she prayed the problem wasn't as bad as it seemed.

* * *

_Hope you're all enjoyingl_

_I just want to point out that I had this Dani on drugs idea long before Prospect Park, hence why she was going nuts in the first or second chapter. Lol._

_And you can check out the Llanview Lives 3 cover pic in full size in a link on my profile page._


	7. Lay It On Me

Lay It on Me

Matthew and Destiny waited for Matthew to come back with his results. Destiny was obviously very concerned.

"Don't worry. I'm fine." Matthew said.

"You don't know that. You're not invincible. You've gotten through a lot of things that a lot of people wouldn't have but that doesn't mean you're going to continue to get lucky with these things." Destiny said.

"You believe in miracles, right? That's why you named our daughter that."

"Yeah but a person is only allowed so many miracles per lifetime and you're about due to run out."

The doctor walked in.

"What's going on? I'm fine right, pop some meds and I'm good to go?" Matthew asked.

"It's not that simple... All these years you've been able to keep it from progressing but the problem has gotten worst. Listen, you cannot afford to get into anymore fights or miss taking your medication." The doctor said.

"I'm so tired of taking medicine. I'm going to be doing it for the rest of my life. What does all this mean?"

"I'm going to change your medication and this will be stronger. You may experience symptoms that you haven't had before. Hopefully the medication will help keep it under control but if it doesn't, you may need surgery. In the meantime, take your medication regularly, avoid stress and no more fights."

The doctor left the room.

"And you were saying about not worrying?" Destiny said.

-v-

The doorbell rung at the Buchanan's and Nora answered. It was Nicole's mom, Farah. She was a beautiful Arabian woman, she looked like a real life Jasmine from Aladdin. Her style was very flashy, wearing a lot of diamonds, a Prada bag, a Gucci dress and red bottom shoes. She liked to be noticed and she liked it to be obvious that she lived a lavish life.

"Farrah, what are you doing here?" Nora asked.

"I need to speak to my daughter." Farah replied.

"Matthew's not here, maybe you should come back later."

"I know Matthew wants our visits to be supervised and all that nonsense but I don't have time to wait for him. I need to speak to Nicole now. These supervised visits are ridiculous. I wasn't being supervised to take care of my own child when he was drunk or in rehab for his alcoholism. You can supervise if it will make you feel better but I'm not going anywhere."

"...Fine." Nora invited Farah in and called Nicole downstairs. Nora waited went to the next room.

"Mom!" Nicole exclaimed happily when saw her.

"Don't mom me, little girl."

Nicole wasn't used to her mom reacting like that or giving her the look she was giving her.

"What?" Nicole asked.

"Nicole Sheridan Buchanan, you had sex at a damn party and the video is all over the Internet." Farah hit Nicole. "What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your damn mind? You're going to have these boojie rich people thinking I raised you to be a little whore. I let you get away with a lot but you have crossed the line."

"Says the gold digger/ex-stripper."

"Excuse me." Farah smacked Nicole. "Life is cause and effect. Because I was a stripper/gold digger you don't have to be. I had a baby with a rich man so that my baby could have a better life and have opportunities I never had. I didn't have a daddy, let alone a rich one. You're supposed to be taking advantage of everything you can afford to make of your future, not ruining it. What if a college or a job finds out about that damn video? Did you think of the consequences of that? Your dad might not even be able to fix this one. Did you think just because you're an heiress you won't have to work and you can just lay on your back?"

"No!"

"Then why'd you do it?"

"I was high on X and it just seemed like fun."

"Fun? Having sex in front of a crowd of people seemed like fun and you did drugs?" Farah hit her a couple times more then gripped her up. "Do some BS like that again and I'll send you military school myself. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Nicole replied and began to cry. She managed to disappoint her mother so knew she had really screwed up this time. This was the first time she completely broke down.

"Wipe those tears and sit the hell down!" Farah exclaimed. Matthew and Destiny then walked in the door. "Matthew, you took my daughter from me because I was such a bad influence and she ends up with a sex video online? This would have never happened if she were with me. As a matter of fact, the sneaking out to parties, the tattoo, they all happened when she was in your care... You going to say something?"

"...You're right." Matthew said.

"What?" Farah didn't expect him to say that.

"You're right. I shouldn't have kept her from you, it didn't help."

"... I'm glad you realize."

"What were you thinking?" Matthew asked Nicole.

"I already talked to her. Trust me, she won't do it again. What can we do about this?" Farah asked.

"I don't know. It's on the Internet. You know once something's on the Internet it's hard to keep it from spreading and it's even harder to get it off. It's 2032, there's no telling how much it's spread by now. I'll do my best but I'm not even sure I can stop this. My concern is that she's in danger with this video out. She might be a target for sexual predators and who knows what else."

"My goodness." Farah said.

"Matt, I'm going to go home. Take care of yourself." Destiny said then they kissed.

"Look who got his precious Destiny back." Farah said sarcastically.

Destiny called DJ downstairs and they left. Meanwhile, Matthew and Farah tried to figure out what to do about Nicole's situation.

-v-

At Dani's house, Vida was upstairs blasting music from her room with Del and Dani was asleep on the couch when she heard the doorbell.

"Gosh, who is that?" Dani wondered, irritated since her sleep was disturbed. She opened the door and there stood her ex-husband, Jason. "Jason, you're out of prison."

"Yeah, may I come in?" Jason asked. Dani and Jason had a seat in the living room. He couldn't help but notice the house was a complete mess. "Where's that loud music coming from?"

"That's Vida blasting it from her room."

"And you're letting her?"

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I've been gone for five years, I want to see my daughter." Dani went upstairs and sent Vida down. "My princess! Boy you've grown so much!"

"Yeah, five years will do that." Vida replied.

"Can daddy get a hug?" Vida slowly walked over to hug him. "What's going on? How are you?"

"Not much has changed since the last time we spoke on the phone."

"Are you alright? Is something wrong?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I've been fine for the past five years without you."

"I understand. I haven't been here and that's my fault but every week for five years I've reminded you how much I love you so you couldn't have forgotten. I feel like there's more you're not telling me."

"This has been a nice visit. You can go now."

"I'm not leaving. I'm never leaving again. You can't get rid of me. I'm your dad and nothing can change that." In ten minutes, Jason already noticed that Dani, Vida and the house were not the same. Dani came back downstairs and Vida used that as an excuse to go back to her room. "What's going on around here?"

"What do you mean?" Dani asked.

"First of all, this house is trifling. You're acting odd and something's not right with Vida. She's different."

"She's not five anymore. What did you expect?"

"I know something is wrong and I'm going to find out what it is."

-v-

_1 week later..._

Destiny and Matthew were at Destiny's appointment and they had just begun looking at the ultrasound.

"There's your baby!" The doctor exclaimed, showing them on the screen.

"And the heartbeat!" Matthew was excited. "That's amazing! We can get a copy of this, right?"

"Sure." The doctor replied.

After the appointment... Matthew kissed Destiny.

"I'm so glad I was there for that. I can't wait to show this to the kids." Matthew said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. They already think you favor Miry because she's mine, at least Nicole does and Drew probably thinks it too. They're probably thinking the same about this baby." Destiny said.

"That's not true. I love all my kids the same."

"I know that but they don't really believe it... I have a meeting in about fifteen minutes so I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too."

Destiny went to meet Jason at The Palace.

"Jason! It's good to see you." Destiny said and they hugged.

"It's great seeing you too! Look at you, you're glowing." Jason said.

"Am I? Thanks. So what's up?" They both had a seat.

"What's up with Dani?"

"I really wouldn't know. We're not friends anymore but Matthew suspects she's on something. He hasn't found any physical proof except her behavior."

"Whoa, I've missed a lot. You're not friends? Why?"

"She made a move on Matthew."

"Interesting. So he thinks she's on something? Drugs?"

"Yeah but he doesn't know what."

"I know I just got back but I just feel like something is wrong and I need to take Vida into my custody."

"Vida's not the little girl you left five years ago."

"So I've noticed. I knew she was very short with me on the phone but I just thought it was because we were on the phone. She's always like that?"

"Yeah and she's gotten worst. Now that I think about it, she's gotten worst since Dani's been acting strange. Dani's been avoiding just about everyone too."

"I want to help Dani with whatever is going on for the kids' sake but I have to get custody of Vida, even if she's a handful. Will you help me?"

"... Ok." Destiny agreed after thinking about it for a moment.

Destiny called Matthew when she got home.

"Hey honeybun. What are you doing?" Matthew asked.

"I'm about to fix dinner... Jason's out of jail."

"Mm." Matthew didn't want to hear his name.

"That's who my meeting was with today." Matthew was silent. "He wants custody of Vida. He's worried. He thinks something's wrong with Dani and that it's effecting Vida."

"I'm with him on that much. I've been thinking about it and I definitely want to get custody of Del."

"Can you handle that right now?"

"Yeah. I'm taking care of myself, I promise."

"I'm a little concerned about splitting up Vida and Del, they're used to being together."

"They'll be fine. They can see each other all the time. No one will get in the way of that. So are going to help me?"

"Well of course... Who else is going to do it?"

After they got off the phone Miley walked into the room. She was dropping Ace off with Matthew.

"Hey Matt. Ace just went upstairs. I just wanted to say hi." Miley said.

"I've been wanting to talk to you anyway... I would like custody of Ace. I have custody of Nic and Drew. I'm going to get custody of Del and I just want all my kids together. This way you could even spend more time in L.A like you want to. We'd just be switching who gets him when."

"Honestly, I'm not crazy about the idea but Ace is fourteen. He's old enough to decide where he wants to live so let's let him. He's a good kid. He's definitely better than I was at his age."

"I can live with that."

-v-

The next day, Infinity met for rehearsal.

"Guess what, Infinity. I got you your first gig. Y'all are ready to blow the roof off." Miracle said. The band got excited. "Infinity will be performing at the Lord Love the Children foundation event. It's a big deal and aunt Vicki is really excited to have you all perform." Izzy came over. "Guys, take five. What's up Iz?"

"I just wanted to say sorry for being such a jerk when you were only trying to help me. You're always looking out for me." Izzy said.

"It's all good. I love you. I will always look out for you even when you don't like it, you can count on it."

"I'm talking to Hope for help. Thanks for the recommendation... I also want to tell you that Liam and I got back together!"

"Yay! That's great! I'm so happy for you! We should double date."

"You and Leon got back together?"

"No, I'm dating someone new. Irvin, you've met him."

"Cool, we should do that. I love you Miracle." They hugged.

"Stick around and check out Infinity or as I like to call them, the best idea I've ever had."

-v-

Matthew went to Rodi's for a change. He had a taste for a really good, Rodi's burger.

"Damn, he eats here too?" Kristina mumbled to herself and tried to cover her face so he wouldn't see her but it was too late. After Matthew ordered his burger he went over to her.

"Hey. Mind if we talk?" Matthew asked.

"...Why not?"

Matthew joined her. "I have to ask, what's up with your nephew?"

"I sent him here to keep him out of trouble, that was the goal anyway."

"Where's his parents?"

"My sister died nine years ago and her husband, Danny's dad died trying to save her so I finished raising him but Danny was never the same again. He went in the wrong direction. It seemed like every time I tried to take him toward the light he ran closer to the darkness. For what it's worth, I don't think he knew how old your daughter was. Think about it, if a teenage girl wanted to date an older guy would she tell him her real age?"

"...Probably not... And my daughter does lie a lot, I admit but why is it that after Miracle told him her age, we saw them together?"

"He said she showed up at his door and he was just taking her home."

"Not so sure I believe that."

"Matthew, please drop the charges. He will stay away from your daughter, I promise."

"I'm not sure I want to do that."

"Please, think about it."

"Your son Kory, how old is he?"

"I should go."

"Kris..."

"... He's eighteen."

Matthew nodded his head. He figured as much.

"Is he my son?" Kristina didn't answer. "Well?" Kristina's leg began to shake.

"Yes. He's your son."

"I looked at him, I saw how old he looked and I thought he looked like me and my other kids and they all happen to be different ethnicities but in their own rainbow way they resemble each other and Kory fits right in. It crossed my mind before but it was a lot going on so I didn't have time to question it but after I thought about I just had to ask... Why didn't you tell me?"

"You're calmer than I expected."

"I'm not supposed get riled up so I'm trying to keep calm but my leg is moving just as rapidly as yours. Why didn't you tell me?"

Kristina stopped her leg from shaking after he pointed it out. "We were juniors in college. You already had a three year old, you were obsessed with Destiny even though you wouldn't admit it but I could tell, you broke up with me, you were kind of a mess by then and I didn't find out I was pregnant until I got back to Port Charles."

"You were punishing me for breaking up with you?"

"No."

"Then I haven't heard a good excuse for you not telling me I had a son yet."

"I don't know what else to say. He doesn't know you're his father but since you know, I'll tell him and you two can get to know each other if you both want. Believe me, Danny won't bother Kory's little sister. I'm sorry I didn't tell you or him but it got harder to do as time went on." Matthew was angry but he was trying very hard to be zen.

"Are you staying in Llanview long?"

"No. I have three kids I have to get back to in Port Charles but Kory is staying here with Danny. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing but you'll be able to spend time with him, you and your...many other children."

* * *

_Hope you're all enjoyingl_

_I just want to point out that I had this Dani on drugs idea long before Prospect Park, hence why she was going nuts in the first or second chapter. Must be something about Dani. Lol._

_P.S. Nicole & Daniel are in no way related..._

_And you can check out the Llanview Lives 3 cover pic in full size in a link on my profile page._


	8. Secrets Out

Secrets Out

Destiny was in court with a client before the hearing. Dani, being the District Attorney was the prosecutor on the case. The hearing was getting ready to start so Destiny and her client had a seat. Then the judge entered.

"Where is Ms. Hall?" The judge asked.

About a minute later, Dani quickly walked into the courtroom. She seemed a bit erratic.

"You're late, Ms. Hall!" The judge exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry, your honor, it won't happen again!"

"With you as my lawyer and her as the prosecutor I should be out of here in five minutes." Destiny's client leaned over and said to her.

Destiny watched Dani's erratic behavior and how abnormally fast she was moving. This was the first time Destiny actually saw Dani's strange behavior in person. She definitely seemed like she was on something. Now she didn't feel so guilty about helping Matthew and Jason get custody of the girls. The hearing for the custody case was tomorrow. The hearing couldn't come fast enough because Destiny finally saw what Matthew and Jason saw so she was very concerned for Vida and Del.

The next day, when Dani walked into court for the custody hearing, she looked at Destiny like she was so hurt that she would help them take the kids away from her but Destiny only did it because the guys had legitimate concern for them. Even though she and Dani were no longer friends, she still looked out for the best interest of the girls. They called her aunt Destiny, she would never hurt them just to get back at Dani. Dani still didn't seem like she had it all together but she wasn't as bad as yesterday.

The judge ruled in the guys' favor and gave them full custody of Vida and Del. Dani thought they would win anyway. Rarely does Destiny ever lose a case. When in court she's a lot like Téa and Dani knew it. She never managed to be as good as they were in the courtroom. Even though Dani thought they would win, she was still highly pissed off.

-v-

After a few days of getting Del settled in, Matthew finally was able to have the dinner with Drew, Harvey and Drew's mother, Lilo.

Everyone was quiet during dinner until Lilo said something.

"Well damn, we're having dinner so that we can talk, not sit here in silence. So Harvey, what attracted you to my daughter?"

"Honestly, I've always had a crush on her. We always saw each other in passing."

"Aww, how cute." Lilo said.

"You know, your mom and I were friends when we were kids. We grew apart when we got older, life kind of just got in the way." Matthew said.

"She told me, I was kind of surprised to hear it." Harvey said.

"I know you're a good kid, I love your mom and you seem like a good influence on Drew so everything else aside, I like you and I like you two together. Continue to do what you're doing and we'll be cool." Matthew said.

"Yes sir."

Drew and Harvey hung out and played video games after dinner.

"You must be doing something right. She's like a new girl now." Lilo said.

"I think that may have more to do with Harvey than me. I try, I really do but it's not as easy as I hoped it would be to get Drew and Nicole back on track. I'm glad you were there for them when Drew called you from that party they attended but you could have let me know." Matthew replied.

"I suppose I could have but she trusted me, I went and got her. She was fine. You could have let me see and talk to her for a year but you didn't."

"Thank your boyfriend for getting Nicole out of that party for me." Matthew changed the subject.

"I will."

-v-

A couple days later, Matthew got a surprise visit from Kory.

"Kory... I didn't expect to see you." Matthew said.

"My mom told me the truth that you're my father." Kory responded and Matthew invited him in. "I never knew who my father was, she never told me. I never really thought about it too much but since I know now I figured it wouldn't hurt to get to know you."

"I'd love to get to know you. You have sisters and a brother, it'd be nice for you to get to know them."

"I've met Nicole and Miracle. They're really beautiful. I heard you have like a whole football team of children, how many do you have?"

"That's an exaggeration. Including you, I have six and one on the way." The one on the way slipped out. He didn't mean to say that. "No one is really supposed to know about the one on the way yet. No one knows other than the kids so let's just keep that between us, ok?"

"Why is it a secret?"

"My fiancée's idea, she wants to wait to tell everyone. If it were up to me, I'd scream it to the world. She's also Miracle's mother and she has a son with her last husband. He died a few years ago."

"You're engaged?"

"Not really but I'll never marry anyone other than her which is why I've never been married."

"Interesting, I'd like to meet this woman."

"I'd love for you to meet her." Speaking of Destiny, he just remember he forgot to tell her about Kory. "Let's take the time to really get to know each other and we'll set it up so that we can a nice family gathering."

"I'd like that... I do have something to ask you... Please drop the charges against Daniel. He's my cousin and I get it, you don't like him. It's understandable, a lot of people don't like him but he's misunderstood. He won't go near her again."

"I can't do that."

"I'm asking you for one thing. Drop the case, if Dan goes near her again I will personally be a witness in the case..."

"Fine... But I better not regret this."

"You won't because if he ever made a move on Nicole again, he'll regret it but he won't do it."

"So tell me more about you, what's your full name? What do you like to do? You know, things a father should know."

"My full name is Kory Michaelangelo Corinthos. I decided I'm going to go to Llanview University for business."

"Business, that was my major. I'm the head of Buchanan Enterprises now. You could work for me when you graduate, join the family business. You are a Buchanan."

"We'll see."

Destiny came over later after Kory left.

"I have something to tell you... Do you remember Kristina Corinthos?" Matthew asked.

"That girl you cheated on me with in college, the mobster's daughter?" Destiny asked.

"...Yes." Matthew hoped he didn't have to bring her up too much because Miracle basically had the same response to hearing her name. He didn't want to keep reminding them of that incident. "She's in town and come to find out, she's Dan's aunt."

"I heard from Miracle, small world."

"It's gotten even smaller because I also found out that Kristina's eighteen year old son is my son."

"... Damn Matthew, do you have super-sperm or something? What the hell? I don't know if you heard of this thing, it's called a condom. I don't understand you. You mean to tell me that three years after we had Miracle and went through everything we went through, you were still dumb enough to go bare-back with someone else? Then again, look who I'm talking too."

"Are you angry?"

"You already have a bunch of kids, why would I be angry? It's not like we were together but I just don't understand why the hell you're so irresponsible. You realize there's also a such thing as STD's which is another reason people use condoms, right?"

"I don't need the lecture. This happened eighteen years ago."

"Then five more times after that..."

"For the record, I did use condoms with Farah and Lilo. I think they poked holes in them."

"Whatever, if you love him so do I."

-v-

Miracle walked into Destiny's room with the dress she designed for her to wear to the event. Destiny tried on the beautiful purple and black dress then came back out.

"I'm not going!" Destiny exclaimed.

"Mom, don't be ridiculous. You look beautiful and you have to go. You made a very sizable donation and Infinity is performing for the first time tonight."

"You're right but look at me! You let it out to accommodate my growing belly but it's so obvious that I'm pregnant."

"So? People are going to find out anyway. You can't hide it anymore."

"But do they have to find out tonight? I don't feel like dealing with that tonight."

"Dealing with what?"

"Never mind. You did an amazing job on the dress. How'd Téa and Nora like their dresses?"

"They loved them! You know I had to hook up the most fabulous lawyers and women in Llanview. Aunt Dorian and aunt Vicki loved their dresses too. I dressed Infinity too so my line is going to get a lot of exposure tonight."

"I absolutely love the dress. I'm so proud of you, Miracle."

"Thanks mommy, all thanks to you." She hugged her. "You look beautiful, ok? I have to leave early with the band for a sound check. We'll see you later."

A half hour later, Matthew came to pick up Destiny.

"You look angelic." Matthew said then kissed her. "Looks like everyone is going to find out there's a new Buchanan on the way." Matthew touched her belly.

"I tried to cover it up some way but I can't."

"You're four months now, going on five. You said wait until the second trimester and you're in the second trimester now so what's the big deal if they know?"

"You look handsome." Destiny changed the subject.

"Thank you. Drew, Nicole and Kory are in the car. Are you ready?"

"Yes. So I finally get to meet Kory."

Destiny grabbed her coat then they headed to the event. Meeting Kory for the first time went alright and he seemed like an ok kid but something about him just didn't sit right with Destiny, however, he seemed cool enough like they could get along.

Matthew, Destiny, Kory, Nicole and Drew walked into the event. It already appeared to be a great turn out.

When Destiny took off her coat, she knew that the secret was about to be out and she had to prepare herself for it. Destiny felt a lot of people staring at her. She'd like to think it was because she looked fabulous which she did but she knew it was because she was pregnant.

Drew found Harvey. Nicole and Kory stuck together since Kory didn't really know anyone and Nicole was still embarrassed about the sex video that came out a few months ago. She was actually glad she had finally started homeschooling.

Miracle was with Irvin.

"So what's Lord Love the Children about again?" Irvin asked.

"It used to be an illegal adoption organization but my aunt Vicki took it over and made it legit so it benefits orphans, children need, things like that." Miracle explained.

"Victoria Lord is your real aunt?"

"She's my great-aunt by marriage but she really is my son's great-great-aunt."

"Where's Evan tonight?"

"He, my little sister, Del and her sister are all being babysat by my former step-cousin, Roseanne, if that makes any sense. Téa Lord's niece."

"Who's Téa Lord?"

"Only the most famous retired lawyer in Llanview. You really aren't from around here. I have to catch you up on the Lord/Buchanan history, some of it anyway. I don't want to scare you off... I can't wait to see Infinity perform. I'm so excited."

Neela went over to Destiny, excitedly.

"Des! Oh my goodness! Congratulations, I can't believe you didn't tell me you and Matthew were having another baby." Neela said.

"Everyone is pretty much finding out tonight." Destiny replied. Jason came over.

"I knew you were glowing. Congrats." Jason said.

"Thanks Jase."

Neela went back over to Shane and Jason went over to the food. Then Farah and Lilo came over.

"He knocked you up again, huh? His Precious Destiny, so he says but you're no different than the rest of us. He just knocked you up first, he still dropped you like a sack of potatoes, he still treated you like a one night stand. That's what he likes to call us anyways but it damn sure wasn't just that one night like he wants everyone to believe. You are just another woman on Matthew Buchanan's list of baby mamas. You're not as smart as you thought because you were dumb enough to make the same mistake twice, dumb enough to think he actually wants you anymore than he wants any of us. You're just Matthew's little flunky." Farah said in a calm, patronizing tone. Destiny took a deep breath.

"I'm not about to entertain you two. You both have always wanted to be with him for a status upgrade, I get it but your mission was not accomplished. You both have always had it in for me. I could insult you two but I won't. I'm going to take the high road this time. Just get out of my face ASAP."

"Let's just leave her alone, Farah." Lilo said. "But for the record, I don't want Matthew anymore. I have me a big shot wrestler, honey. Good luck with him for another eighteen years." Lilo and Farah walked away then Matthew went over to Destiny.

"Did I hear correctly? Were they just insulting you?" Matthew asked.

"Yep..." Destiny replied and Matthew started to go after them but Destiny stopped him. "No, don't bother. They were just bold enough to say what everyone else is thinking."

"Everyone else is not thinking that."

"Maybe not our family and friends but some of them are probably thinking it too. I knew people would think what Farah was bold enough to say and that's why I wasn't looking forward to everyone finding out."

"Since when do you care what other people think?"

"I don't... but it's nice for people to see me for who I am and not Matthew Buchanan's 'baby mama.' They see me as your damn baby mama. Never in my life did I want that title to be attached to my name. People used to see me as that dumb girl that had a crush on a guy who only saw her as his flunky best friend and got knocked up in high school. It took me years to break that image. I had a whole new life and people respected me for the good, intelligent woman that I was and a damn good lawyer to boot. Now here I am once again, having your baby and they see me as that dumb ass little girl again, just another one of Matthew Buchanan's baby mamas and someone stupid enough to get with an asshole like you. I don't think you're an asshole anymore but other people do."

"Wow... So that's why you didn't want to have a baby with me?"

"No, I didn't want another baby for the reason I already told you. I wanted to be able to just live for me for a little while once DJ went to college."

"Ok but none of what they said is true. You know that. I love you. You were never my flunky. I didn't intend to have all these kids with all these women but I did the things I did because I wanted to be with you and I couldn't have you. They were all a distraction for me."

"You know that and I get that but no one else does... And it makes me look bad. I wish I didn't care but I do. I feel like it's the first day of senior year all over again. I keep having flashbacks. You weren't there and neither was Dani and I walked in alone. The entire school was staring and talking. I don't know how I would've made it through that day if it weren't for Shane having my back. As strong as I've always been, that was hard and so is this."

"I'm sorry... You're not alone this time though. I love you with all my heart and soul, please don't forget that." They hugged.

"Llanview, thank you for this big turn out for the Lord Love the Children foundation. This is a cause that is very close to my family's heart. Now for our first live performance I am so happy to introduce for the first time, Infinity!" Bree announced on the stage.

Infinity performed and rocked the house. Everyone loved them. This was definitely the start of something great.

Miracle headed backstage to meet Infinity but on her way there she saw Leon's girlfriend, Flora making out with some guy that was not Leon. Miracle shook her head but didn't say anything and continued on her way to the group.

"You all were amazing! How do you feel about your first performance?" Miracle asked.

"When do we get to do it again?" Ace replied, excitedly.

"My adrenaline is still pumping." DJ said.

Back with Destiny and Matthew...

"They are awesome! They are something to watch out for and I'm not just saying that because my son and sister are in the band." Destiny said.

"I agree and I'm not just saying that because my son and cousin are in the band." Matthew replied and they shared a laugh before Téa came over.

"Hey Téa! Infinity is great, aren't they?" Destiny exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Téa replied. Destiny and Matthew sensed some tension in the air.

"Matt, can you give us a minute?" Destiny asked. Matthew left them alone. "What's up?"

"Why did you help Matthew and Jason take the girls from Dani?"

"Oh... Oh no. You don't know. I am so sorry! I've been so preoccupied lately that I haven't had time to talk to you about all this."

"All what?"

Destiny insisted they had a seat before she filled Téa in on what's been going on with Dani.

"Dani is on drugs. We don't know what drugs. Jason and Matthew have been trying to convince her to get help but she won't admit she has a problem."

"Dani does not do drugs."

"Think about it Téa. She's been so distant from everyone lately. When's the last time you've actually saw her? When someone does see her they say she's acting strange. She's not even here. I saw her in court and she was high, like sky high. I'm sorry but she is on drugs."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. I'm sorry you didn't know sooner. I love you, you've been another mom to me. I didn't mean to keep this from you."

"I know. I believe you. I have to go see her." Téa's cell phone rung and the call read, 'Daniella.' "This is her now." Téa said before answering. "Dani?"

"No. This is Jason. I left the party early to check on Dani and well... You need to come to the hospital."

"What's wrong?" Téa panicked.

"I don't want to tell you over the phone, please just come."

"Jason, just tell me what's wrong with my daughter! I know about the drugs. Does it have something to do with that?"

"...She OD'd on cocaine."

"I'm on my way!" Téa hung up. "Dani OD'd on cocaine."

"Oh my God." Destiny said. She and Téa let Matthew, Victor, Todd, Starr, Jack, Sam and Leon know what was going on and they all headed to the hospital.

_To Be Continued..._


	9. Dreams & Living Nightmares

Daydreams & Living Nightmares

Destiny, Matthew and the Manning/Lords arrived at Llanview hospital and found Jason.

"How's Dani, is she alright?" Téa asked in a panic.

"The doctors are still with her but she's still unconscious." Jason said.

"Oh God!" Téa exclaimed. Victor held her trying to calm her down.

The doctor soon came out.

"How is she?" Victor asked.

"Dani is stable. She will be fine. She's sleeping now." The doctor replied.

"Oh thank God!" Téa exclaimed. "Can we see her?"

"Yes but one at a time. We don't want to overwhelm her." The doctor said and soon left the family alone.

"I can't believe she's doing drugs. Why would she do that?" Téa wondered aloud.

"Maybe one of these assholes know." Todd said.

"You're blaming us?" Jason asked, confused.

"Yeah! If you two didn't take the girls from her she wouldn't be here." Todd replied.

"This isn't our fault. Dani's been on drugs for a while, we figured it out and took the girls for their sake." Matthew said.

"I'm supposed to believe that?" Todd asked.

"It's not their fault. Dani's a grown woman, she can make her own decisions. Let's just be happy that she's alive. Now that we know that she's alright, I'm going to kill her." Téa said.

"Thank God Dani is alright. We're going to go." Destiny said.

"Thanks for filling me in on what's been going on." Téa said.

"Of course. I'll call you." Destiny said.

"Destiny, congratulations on the baby." Téa said.

"Thanks." Destiny and Téa hugged before Destiny and a Matthew left.

-v-

Later that night, Matthew called Destiny and woke her out of her sleep.

"Hello?" Destiny answered in a sleepy voice.

"It's Matt. I'm so sorry I'm calling you so late but it's Del. She won't stop crying. I tried to comfort her and so did my mom, Drew, Ace and Neela. Nothing is working. She misses Dani. I need your help."

"You really think I have all the answers, don't you? The next best person to Dani would be Téa but since you two aren't exactly on good terms anymore I guess I can help you. I'll be right over."

Destiny headed over to the Buchanan's with Miracle, DJ and Evan. She had a feeling it would take her and Miracle to calm Del down. When they got there Destiny and Miracle went up to her room. Nora was with Del and she was having a fit. Nora gave Destiny and Miracle time alone with Del.

"Auntie Destiny, Miracle, I want my mommy!" Del exclaimed. Destiny and Miracle had a seat on each side of her.

"I know sweetie. I know you're not used to being away from your mommy and Vida for this long but it's going to be awhile before you can see her." Destiny said.

"Noooo! Why?"

"She's sick right now but as soon as she gets better I promise you can see her then." Destiny said. Del poked her lip out then began to cry.

"Del, it's alright. You'll see your mommy soon and it's not so bad with daddy." Miracle said.

"I want to go home! If I can't go home can one of you stay with me?" Del asked.

"I'll stay." Miracle volunteered. Destiny stayed a little while longer then left Del with Miracle. "What do you say we go to my room and get in the big bed?" Del finally smiled and nodded her head. Then they went to Miracle's room. Del stayed close to Miracle while holding on to her stuffed white bunny tightly. Miracle sung a Spanish lullaby that Téa used to sing to her when she was a little girl and she knew she sung it to Del too. She figured it would give her some comfort.

Destiny met Matthew in the living room.

"She should be fine for the rest of the night. Miracle is going to stay with her." Destiny said.

"Why was she so receptive to you two?" Matthew asked.

"We're just a little bit closer to her. This is a big adjustment for her, not seeing Dani. It's going to take some time. Everyone she's close to is going to have to come together to make it easy for her to deal. Hopefully, it doesn't take Dani too long to recover completely... I'll see you later."

"It's late you and DJ should just stay the night too."

"I don't think that's a good idea but I'll call you." Destiny said, knowing DJ couldn't wait to go home and would not want to stay over night there.

Miracle staying with Del helped. She slept through the night and stopped crying. Del was closest to Miracle of all the siblings and since Miracle was there to keep her reasonably content, she stuck to Miracle like glue. It helped that Evan was there as well because they were really close, they had fun together and he was a distraction from missing Dani.

Miracle kept drilling into Matthew's head the importance of him getting along with Jason so that the girls could spend more time together at each other's houses. That was going to take a lot of work but it needed to be done.

Once everyone was up and at it, Leon came over to see Evan and Del.

"How are you? I know you're worried about aunt Dani." Miracle asked.

"Worried just about sums it up. I can't believe she's been doing drugs. How could I miss that?" Leon replied.

"It's not your fault."

"You must be worried too, she's still aunt Dani to you."

"I am very concerned. I hope she can get better soon for her sake and Del and Vida."

"Vida seems to be getting more out of control. I think Jason is at a lost as to how to help her. She's never like that when she comes to our house."

"That's because your dad doesn't play those games. He'd have her in check in point two seconds." Miracle laughed. "Maybe that's who uncle Jason needs to call to handle her."

"You know Sierra Rose had the baby."

"I know, Izzy told me. I saw pictures. He's so adorable, little Parker Lord."

"How is Izzy?"

"She's going through some serious stuff right now. Her crazy ex is stalking her. All we can do is be there for her. She has people watching her back but the guy is crazy."

"She'll be alright... I better get to Evan and Del."

"Yeah but wait... Before you do that, I have something to tell you. This may not be a good time but I think you should know."

"What?"

"At the Lord Love the Children event... I saw Flora with another guy, kissing him."

"Wow. Come on Miry, don't be ridiculous. I can't believe you would say that."

"Say what? The truth? I've never been a liar."

"You just made that up because you're jealous."

"Seriously? Jealous for what? I have a boyfriend. We've know each other our entire lives. Do you honestly think I would stoop so low to lie to you about something like this? I'm sorry, I thought we were trying to be friends again. I've moved on but even if I hadn't I would have told you what I saw. I'm just looking out for you like I've always done but fine, don't believe me. See if I care."

"I'm sorry. I was wrong. I believe you. I have no reason to doubt you."

You're right, you don't. Evan and Del are in Bel's room. I'll get them for you." Miracle walked away leaving Leon thinking about how he completely ruined that conversation.

-v-

After a few days of being watched and monitored in the hospital, Dani went to rehab for her cocaine addiction. After being in rehab for a few days, Jason went to see her.

"How's it going in here?" Jason asked.

"I still want a hit." Dani replied.

"Dani, you could have died."

"I know that! The first step is admitting I have a problem, right? I'm admitting I'm addicted to cocaine."

"Why did you start? You have two daughters who need you."

"I know! I was just so lonely and parenting on my own. The drugs made me forget about how I felt. It made me feel good, I had the energy to go on. Then you and Matt took the girls from me and to top it all off I lost my job later that day. I loved being the DA. It made me feel important. I just couldn't take it anymore. I got a hit and just needed more. I needed to forget how much my life sucked."

"Your life doesn't suck. You have so much to be grateful for and I told you before, you're not alone. You have your family and friends."

"Sometimes that's not enough."

"Well you could have had me but you didn't want me anymore." Jason thought to himself. They used to have such a beautiful relationship. Maybe it was his fault that it ended but he never wanted to give up on their relationship, however, she gave it up so easily. What was he to do? He still loved her but she didn't want him. She'd rather ruin a relationship with her best friend by making a move on her man or feel alone and on drugs than be with him. He had never been more hurt than when Dani admitted to cheating on him and asked for a divorce while he was in prison when the entire time he was in prison all he could think about was getting back to Dani and Vida. Now his heart was broken even more seeing Dani like this and Vida the way she is at this point.

"My mom was ready to kill me after I woke up in the hospital. She said Destiny filled her in on everything. I'm surprised she even made it to the hospital."

"You know Destiny loves you."

"Thats why she helped you and Matt take the girls from me?"

"Say what you want, you know we had to do that."

"She won't talk to me."

"Should she? You tried to seduce Matthew. They've been together what, two years or something now? They're in love, they're having another baby. Destiny was your best friend, basically sisters and you betrayed her. She's always been there for you, the least you could do is not betray her. How could you?"

"Wait, Destiny's pregnant?"

"Almost five months I think they said."

"Wow... That makes what I did even worst... I don't know why I'm so surprised though. It was just a matter of time, that's what Matthew does, knock people up."

"He has a long lost son too. He's eighteen."

"Gosh. Good thing I didn't succeed in seducing him. I probably would have been pregnant again." Dani joked but Jason didn't want the visual of Matthew and Dani together.

"Get better soon ok, the girls need you."

"How are they?"

"They miss you. Neither of them are really doing that well. I don't even know what to do with Vida. What happened to my little girl?"

"We did."

-v-

Miracle was tossing and turning in her sleep. Her dream, nightmare was a better word for it was dark and played on everything she tried to avoid thinking about when she was awake and most of what she talked to Hope about in therapy.

_At Rodi's, Miracle and Izzy were standing by the bar talking when they heard the gunshot and Darren jumped in front of them causing the bullet to hit him._

_The next scene of her dream she was back in the hospital room crying with Destiny after he died._

_Then it was completely dark around with just a spotlight on her. She was terrified not knowing what was going to happen next and being in this dark room all alone. Suddenly, there was just enough light to see where she was. All around her were tombstones. She read the names, Destiny Price, Evan Lord, Leon Lord, Izzy Thornhart and more. It was everyone she loved._

_"Noooo!" Miracle screamed. _

She finally woke up crying. Now she was the one who didn't want to be alone. Like Del, she needed her mommy right now.

Miracle went to Destiny's room and climbed in her bed. Destiny woke up.

"Are you alright?" Destiny asked.

"I just don't want to be alone right now." Miracle replied. Destiny held her until they both fell back to sleep.

The next day, Destiny woke up really sick, throwing up, the whole nine which sent Miracle into a panic.

"Are you alright?" Miracle asked.

"I just don't feel well, today. I'm going to canceled my meetings." Destiny noticed the nervous look Miracle had. "I'm really ok. I'm pregnant, I'm just having a really bad day. What's wrong with you? You've seemed shaken up every since last night."

"I'm fine... I have an appointment with Hope. I'm on my way there unless you need me."

"No, go meet with Hope."

Miracle got a call from Matthew once she got in her car. "Hey dad."

"Hey Miry. What's up?"

"Not much..."

"What's up with your mom? She's not answering my phone calls."

"Your baby has her totally under the weather today. She's sick. She cancelled all her meetings and her phone is on vibrate."

Miracle went to meet with Hope and a half hour later Matthew was ringing Destiny's doorbell. She answered, surprised to see him.

"What are you doing here?" Destiny asked.

"Miracle told me you were sick so I came to take care of you. I brought you soup."

"How sweet. Thanks."

They stayed in the living room instead of going back up to her room. She leaned on his chest as they streamed Fraternity Row from the Internet to her TV. She started looking around and noticed all the pictures of Darren on the walls and tables. Then she stopped leaning on Matthew and created a little space between them. Perhaps, considering DJ's feelings wasn't the only reason why she never invited Matthew over.

-v-

Meanwhile, Kory and Dan were having a discussion at their apartment. They were getting ready to head out soon. Dan got his gun.

"Do you have to take that thing everywhere you go?" Kory asked.

"It's important to be prepared." Dan replied.

"Prepared to kill at all times? That's a little psycho. We're not in Port Charles, you're not a hit man anymore."

"Yeah, aunt Kristina's number one goal was getting us away from the mob. Luckily for you and her, she didn't know you were in it too but maybe she had a feeling."

"She'd be really disappointed. She doesn't know I was involved with the mob, she doesn't know I've killed before. Her biggest nightmare was that any of her kids would turn out anything like her father."

"Don't blame yourself for having to kill that guy, you had no choice. You're not really about the mob life Kory."

"I'm not so sure about that. I love the feeling of being in control and being on the edge of danger."

"You also like children and animals and playing at the amusement park. You're a complicated person."

"So are you. There's a good side to you that you don't like to let others see and you know it."

-v-

A few days later, Destiny went over to the Buchanan's. She and Matthew had some intimate time together.

"I can't thank you enough for taking care of me a few days ago." Destiny said.

"That's what I'm here for. I love you. If I have to go to the end of the world and back for you, I will... What did your parents say when you told them about the baby?"

"They reacted how I expected them to."

"So they were happy, excited?"

"Uh... Sure. They're happy to be grandparents again."

"I sense a big but."

"... But they're not so happy it's with you. They didn't expect us to stay together this long."

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does to me. Be honest, I can handle it."

"They don't really like you, never have."

"Oh that's great... Does any of your family like me?"

"Yes... No, not really. I'm so sorry."

"I guess I understand. I was really unlikable for a long time. Do you think if I tried to bond with DJ he'd loosen up to me?"

"I don't think so. Apart of me would like for you to try but I'm not so sure if it would make things better or worst. He'd feel like you're only trying because you want to impress me and that won't impress him. I just don't want to force him to deal with all this."

"I get it. Maybe I can start with something small. I really want us all to be a family."

"You have really grown up."

"Speaking of family, we haven't talked about baby names yet."

"We sure haven't. This should be fun. Let's start with girl names."

"You know I never liked Del's name. What kind of name is Del Zulimar?"

"Dani put a lot of thought into that name. Del was the closest name she could think of to Delgado. It's also what they call her uncle Delmonico. Zulimar has a Spanish origin which was important to Dani and it means, 'blue ocean' which reminded Dani of Tahiti, where she's from and remember she loved surfing. A blue ocean is also very beautiful and in a lot of ways seems bigger than life."

"Well since you've explained it to me which Dani never did, I like it a lot better now."

"So what's your first name idea?"

"Nora."

"Lilac."

"Ok, your obsession with purple is extreme." They shared a laugh. "Mestiny. You know like Matthew and Destiny."

Destiny laughed. "We're not naming our daughter Mestiny. Ooh, what about Eden?"

"I like it. Eden Devina Buchanan."

"Yes! Love it. Ok. Boy names: Shiloh."

"Let's name him after my dad."

"Your dad's real name is Beaufort Oglethorpe. I love your dad but I can't name my son Beaufort Oglethorpe."

Matthew laughed. "Point taken. Let's name him Matthew Jr."

"... I don't know but people with MJ as their initials seem to be super cool like Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Michael J. Fox. Maybe we should name him Michael, or just plain ol' MJ. That's cool."

"I really want to name him after me."

"I don't think we should name him after anyone. Almost all the kids are named after someone. Miracle's middle name is my mom's original name. Nicole is named after a Pussycat Doll. Drew Davida, named after both your brothers. Ace is named after your grandfather. Let's just let this baby be original." She purposely didn't bring up that DJ was named after Darren.

"Why don't you want to name our son after me if we have a boy?"

"I just told you."

"I don't believe that's the real reason."

"This isn't fun anymore. Are you hungry? I'll cook for you." Destiny changed the subject.

-v-

Izzy's ex-boyfriend, Martin opened the door to his apartment and turned on the lights. Izzy was sitting in his living room. She scared the mess out of him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Martin asked.

"I decided to get two steps ahead of you. You've been stalking me, I got around you and beat you home. Why do you follow me?" Izzy asked.

"Follow you? You're in my apartment."

"Don't play with me. Why do you want me to be miserable? Why do you want to hurt me?"

"You get what you deserve."

"You're telling me I deserve to hurt? I don't understand men like you. I won't be a victim anymore. If you want to hurt me, I'm not going down without a fight. This is your warning. I suggest you take me seriously." Izzy headed toward the door and Martin grabbed her. "Let me go."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, I'm promising you." She pulled out her gun which she got after he started following her and put it to his stomach.

"Let me go. I swear I'm not afraid to use it."

He hit her, she fell to the floor with the gun still in hand then pointed at him and pulled the trigger. She didn't miss. He was dead. Her eyes were wide open, she was shaking. She thought about killing him before but actually doing it was a different story. She slid back toward the door and stared at the lifeless body in front of her.

"Oh God, what did I just do? I shouldn't have come. Why did I come?" Izzy cried.


	10. Special Occassions

_Thanks for all the reviews and constant support with this story. Hope you all continue to enjoy._

* * *

Special Occasions

Liam showed up at Martin's apartment after Izzy called him in a panic.

"Oh no." Liam said once he saw Martin lying dead on the floor for himself. He kneeled down to hold her.

"I shot him." Izzy whispered.

"What exactly happened?"

"I came to warn him to leave me alone. He grabbed me then hit me. I shot him. I thought about it so many times but it's different now that I've done it. I'm a murderer... I'm going to be in prison for the rest of my life." Izzy cried.

"No you're not. I won't let that happen. Did anyone see you come in here?"

"I don't think so."

"Listen, no one has to know. We're going to handle this, ok? It'll be alright." He kissed her forehead.

-v-

_A few months later..._

Nicole's seventeenth birthday had just passed and Drew's seventeenth birthday was coming up. Both of them had been doing a lot better. Drew completely got her act together a while ago but recently, after Farah talked to her, Nicole's actually been a little angel.

Matthew was throwing a very small surprise party for the both of them at the Buchanan mansion and he decided to reward their good behavior with cars, nothing too fancy but their wish was about to come true.

Nicole and Drew had spent the day with their moms so that Matthew had time to get the party together. When they got there, the immediate family and friends were there. It was really nice and after they opened all the gifts that everyone had bought them, Matthew took them outside to show them their cars. Drew jumped up and down and hugged everyone. She was ecstatic. Nicole had a very different reaction. She was happy she got a car but instead of jumping up and down she just broke down in tears.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the car? It's your favorite color and everything." Matthew asked.

"I love it! I just don't deserve it. I've been so awful." Nicole cried. It was surprising to hear her say since for the longest time she acted as if she was entitled to get a car and anything else despite her behavior.

"I think you've learned your lesson. We all make mistakes. I'm giving you a second chance like someone gave me a second chance. Don't blow it."

Soon after their birthdays was prom. Drew was going to get a ticket for Nicole even though she was being homeschooled but Nicole decided against going. She loved dressing up and feeling like a princess but once she finally started to feel ashamed of that video she was in, she really didn't want to be seen too much.

Of course, Drew went to the prom with Harvey. They were cute together. Drew wore a Hawaiian styled long flowing dress to represent her Hawaiian background and Harvey wore a nice suit to coordinate with her.

Ace and Eva went to prom together in red and black but led everyone to think they were just friends because they're a little shy and nervous about revealing that they're together. It's so cute and innocent, you got to love it.

Chad took a girl friend from school. Infinity had the honor of performing at the prom so DJ had a free pass to the prom even though he was still in the eighth grade and not in high school yet and he took a girl from his school.

Infinity blew the roof off, they had an amazing performance. Almost everyone loved it. There were a few haters as usual, there's always some people who don't like what you're doing just because you're doing well but majority was stoked and hyped up off the performances. It was looking really good for Infinity which made an already great night absolutely wonderful and a night to remember.

-v-

Meanwhile, Dan was at his apartment and he had just came out of his room in his boxers to have a heated phone conversation.

"Listen! If you don't handle that situation by Friday, you're going to have to deal with me. Understand? I know that you know that I'm the last person you want to deal with." Dan said to the person on the other end of the phone. "...No buts just do what I told you to do." Dan hung up then heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. "Nicole. Why the hell are you here? You come to see Kory?"

"No. I came to see you." Nicole replied.

"For what? We are over, been over."

"I missed you."

"Here's some advice, no one likes a clingy woman. When you break up, let it go and move on."

"I love you. You love me too."

"No. No I don't. We're not together. Get that into your adolescent head."

"You're just saying that because my dad and Kory who I hardly know by the way wants you to stay away from me. What about what I want?"

"What about what you want? You're a child. I heard you've been a really good girl lately and that's good. Go home. If Kory comes in here, he'll think I'm breaking his trust. I may be a bad boy but I don't betray my family so go."

"Don't talk down to me, ok?"

A blonde haired, blue eyed super model type girl named Candi came behind Dan and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"When are you coming back to bed? Who's this?" Candi asked.

That hurt Nicole's heart. Before her eyes began to water because she felt it coming, she ran off.

"Damn! I'll be right there." Dan said to Candi before he closed the door and ran after Nicole. "Nic, wait! Nicki!" He finally caught her. "I'm sorry, ok?"

"Whatever. Get back to your girl."

"I realize you must be hurt but we can't be together, we're not together and that's just how it is."

"I got it." Nicole left.

-v-

Téa picked up Dani from rehab. After a few intense months in rehab she was finally ready to come home. Téa wanted to take their alone time in the car to try and connect with Dani.

"I'm so glad you're coming home. The girls really need you. Dani, if you ever need to talk about anything I'm here, you can talk to me." Téa said.

"Yeah mom..."Dani replied in a nonchalant tone.

"... You can move in with me and your dad or the rest of the family next door."

"Mom, I'm a grown woman. I don't need to be chaperoned." Dani said with an attitude.

"Daniella, you're a grown woman who almost died from a drug overdose and I do not want to come that close to losing my daughter again! I'm just looking out for you. You were on drugs for an entire year and none of us found out until it was almost too damn late! You avoided us because you knew we would call you out on your crap." Téa yelled and screeched.

"Ok. I'm sorry, mom. I understand. Just calm down while you're driving please. I'll be fine at my own house, ok? I promise."

"We're all going to look out for you... And don't ever think you're alone. Our family is too big for you to feel alone."

-v-

Miracle was watching one of David's movies while she drew new designs for her clothing line. Watching David's movies always kept her in a good mood. She could always count on getting a good laugh. The only thing better than watching a movie was actually spending time with David. Miracle was really the only one of David's nieces or nephews that fed into David's excitement and love for his acting career and personally really enjoyed it. Miracle and David were always really close, probably because she was the oldest and they had a lot of time to bond before any of her siblings were born. Plus, he and her mom were always really close.

It got to her favorite part and she laughed as hard as she did every time she saw the movie.

"Oh uncle David, you're so hilarious. Gotta love him." The doorbell rung, she paused the movie and answered the door. "Leon. What are you doing here? You know Evan is in school. It's his last day actually."

"I know. He got through his first year of kindergarten. Can you believe it? I came over to talk to you though." She invited him in.

"Why?"

"I broke up with Flora. You were right about her. She was planting her flowers all over the garden."

"I know." Miracle replied simply, thinking he really didn't have to come over to tell her that. He kissed her then she smacked him. "What the hell you do that for? We were trying to be friends, remember? Friends don't do that. That's how we messed up the first time. It kills me to say it but we should have listened to our parents and acted like family before instead of getting together."

"You don't mean that."

"I do. You live and you learn. Why would you kiss me? You didn't want to be with me so you're not with me. We've both moved on. It's not my fault you made a bad choice about who you moved on to."

"I love you."

"So? I love you too. We all love each other."

"No. You know, I mean I'm in love with you."

"Woopty Doo! What's love got to do with it? You got what you wanted, it's over. Leave and let's start this platonic friendship over tomorrow."

"I can't do that. I need more." Leon kissed her passionately and she caught herself before she completely gave in.

"No! Don't do this to me! This is that love me, love me not stuff my dad used to do to my mom and your uncle used to do to your mom. I heard the stories. I'm not going through that."

"It's not like that. Do I have to remind you like I have many times before that I am not your dad?"

"Yet, you want me back after I find someone else who's more than worthy of my love."

"And I'm damn sure not my uncle." Leon was really insulted, being compared to Todd.

"Yet, the more I tried to get closer to you, the more you pushed me away."

"You're exaggerating, big time."

"Am I? You're about two steps away from leaving my ass on a deserted island for a Millicent or a Flora or some other whore."

"You know damn well I wouldn't leave you on a deserted island." Leon said like she was being utterly ridiculous and exaggerating badly!

Leon kissed her again with even more passion than before and touched all her weak spots making her whole body go limp. Then he carried her up to her room, laid her down then put it down.

Afterward, Miracle immediately regretted what they had done. She felt so bad about it, she had a headache.

"This is two steps back in therapy." Miracle mumbled to herself but Leon still heard.

"You're in therapy?" Leon asked.

"Aww man... Yes." Miracle reluctantly admitted.

"Why?"

Miracle laughed a little, thinking that he said she needed help in a mist of an argument so many times that he should know why.

"Stuff." Miracle replied.

"That's not an answer."

"It's really none of your business."

"After this, you still feel that way?" Miracle didn't answer so Leon didn't press it. "We've never made love in your room before."

"Right and there's no telling when my mom will be back and that would be really awkward if she caught us so you should go." Though that was true, even more than that she just wanted Leon to leave.

He got dressed and finally left. She felt so guilty that she had cheated on Irvin, she felt like she was no better than Flora at this point. It hurt so badly that she had done what she did.

She looked around her room and was reminded of that nightmare she had which is why she hardly spent anytime in her room since she had that nightmare. She was dealing with the nightmare in therapy and she talked about how scared she was to completely be alone without any of her family. That was something to add on to the issues she had with losing Darren, the issues she had about living life in fear and her issues with her dad, however, she came a long way with all those other issues to the point that they're minimal now. If she could come to grips with the symbolism of the nightmare she might be able to get back to normal.

She quickly got out of her room, took a nice warm shower with soothing music playing then figured a movie wasn't enough for her anymore so she went to LaBoulaie so that she could really spend time with her uncle David to take her mind off things, have fun and laugh.

-v-

Destiny was at the Buenas Dias fulfilling a craving and talking to Jason.

"I need a job. For good reason, no one wants to hire me but I have to do something. No one trusts me and who could blame them?" Jason said to Destiny.

"I trust you." Destiny said. Jason cracked a smile. He appreciated how much Destiny still truly believed in him despite what he had done. "I know you didn't really ask me but I'll see what I can do about getting you a job. I think I know an opening. It may not be what you're qualified to do or what you'd like but it'll be something. I'm not making any promises."

"Thanks Des! You're a lifesaver!"

"That's my middle name. Destiny 'Lifesaver' Price."

"I appreciate you so much."

"You've always been there for me too."

"That's what friends are for. I have to go." Jason said then Dani walked in. "Congratulations." Jason said to Dani on the way out then Dani went over to Destiny.

"Hey Des!"

"Hey." Destiny replied dryly. "... It's good you're better."

"Thanks." Dani joined Destiny at the table. Destiny frowned. "I just wanted to apologize for what I did, betraying you and all. I was so wrong. Please, forgive me?"

"Let's see, the definition of forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward, so I don't have to forgive because I'm not angry or resentful. I just don't trust you. I know what they say, "Never trust a Lord woman around your man." They were right but I said no, not my sis, Dani. She'd never do that to me. It doesn't matter, we're not friends anymore. That's just how it is but we both know our issues actually go deeper than that incident with Matthew." Destiny got up and headed toward the door.

"I know you were at the hospital."

"So, I don't hate you." Destiny continued on her way.

"Congrats on the new baby!" Dani exclaimed trying to tell Destiny before she got all the way out the door.

-v-

_1 month later..._

Matthew, Destiny, all their children and Evan were having dinner at The Palace. Destiny usually didn't make DJ join in on anything he didn't want to but this time she insisted just so that he really knew he wasn't left out or anything.

"Miry, how are you and Irvin doing?" Matthew asked.

"I broke up with him a few weeks ago." Miracle replied.

"Why? Did he hurt you?" Matthew asked.

"No." Miracle replied simply. She didn't want to go into detail but the truth was after she had sex with Leon, she felt too guilty to keep dating Irvin. It really hurt her to hurt such a nice genuine guy.

"So DJ buddy, you are superwondermonious on the piano man!" Matthew tried to make conversation with DJ. DJ just stared at Matthew for a few moments before he continued to eat.

"I am not your buddy." DJ thought to himself.

"You know, we guys should get together and play a game of basketball, two on two, Kory and Ace against me and DJ."

DJ tried not to laugh at the idea. Everyone thought it was best somebody changed the subject now.

"Eva and I are boyfriend and girlfriend." Ace blurted out.

"Oh..." Destiny replied. She was so caught off guard by the statement. "Um... Be good to my little sis, ok?"

"Sure will! She's the best girl in the world."

"That's cute." Destiny admitted and smiled. "Just remember, John may not take you dating his daughter so well. Break it to him easily. It's his daughter's first boyfriend."

"That's liable to give any man a heart attack, you'll see one day." Matthew said.

"I am so happy that when school starts in September, Nic and I will officially be seniors! Woo Hoo!" Drew exclaimed.

"Cheers to that." Matthew said then everyone held up their glasses.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Destiny yelled in pain.

"I've heard that sound enough times. Are you in labor?" Matthew asked and Destiny nodded her head.

"And they're coming fast! Ahhhh!" Destiny exclaimed.

"Perfect day to have a van. Let's get you to the hospital." Matthew said then helped Destiny to the van. The entire family hopped in and they made their way to Llanview hospital.

"Can you believe we're going to have a little brother or sister?" Miracle asked DJ.

"This will be your whole sibling." DJ said.

"Whole, half, it doesn't matter. All the same to me, you know that."

"Everything is going to be different now, more different."

"It's not so bad. We're a family. We all need each other."

"It's your family... Your siblings, your dad."

"I know it's hard, D. All this is hard for me too but I know, you know, mom knows that we can't replace Darren or the family we had with him. We will never forget that but for whatever reason, mom and my dad found their way back to each other. We just have to live with it. I've actually gotten used to it."

"Of course you have, he's your dad."

"That has nothing to do with it. I'm not one of those people who have always dreamed of their parents being together. I don't even remember them being together. I hardly even remember them being friends. They only had just enough of a relationship to co-parent and it never really bothered me because at the end of the day I had Darren. I know you don't like my dad but for the past few years he's really been a good guy. It seems like he really wants to connect with you. He wants us all to be one family."

"He's trying to impress mom and I'm not impressed. I've known the man my entire life and never once did he try to have a conversation with me or anything close to it until now. Think of all the times he tried to break up mom and dad. Like I said, it's your family, not mine."

"If you keep thinking that way you're going to feel alone and you don't have to. At least pretend for mom, it'll make her happy if she's not worried about how you feel all the time. Darren isn't here but he loved mom so I know that he wants her to be happy too, even if it's with my dad as long as he's good to her."

"I want her to be happy too..."

"Then would you be a trooper and play along? Try to leave the memories of my dad's old asshole tendencies in the past?"

Hours later, Matthew was still by Destiny's side, holding her hand and finally the newest Buchanan was brought into the world.

"It's a boy!" The doctor exclaimed.

"We did it, Des. We got a boy." Matthew said happily. He kissed her forehead.

A while later the rest of the kids came in to meet their new sibling. Destiny was holding him in her arms.

"Meet your new brother..." Matthew said.

"Noah Lyfe Buchanan." Destiny revealed his named.

"No surprise he looks like Miracle." Nicole said.

"He's adorable." Drew said.

"Now I get to be a big sister too!" Del exclaimed.

"We love you, Noah." Destiny said.


	11. Runaway

Runaway

Destiny was in her room rocking Noah. She looked up at her wall at a picture of Darren then looked back down at Noah. A tear fell.

"I feel so conflicted." Her cell phone rung, she wiped her tear then answered. "Hey Matt."

"Hey honey bun. How are you and our little joy?"

"We're just dandy." Destiny lied. She was confused and a little sad. "Matt, I need to ask you a favor but you're not going to like it."

"Anything for you."

"It's not really for me. It's for Jason. He needs a job and you're about to re-open Capricorn, I know you still need people so..."

"You want me to hire the man that stole from my company."

"I know it sounds crazy but he really needs something. Just give him a chance. Give him anything. He's a good guy, he won't do it again."

"No."

"Please, for me. Hire him on a trial bases."

Matthew sighed. "Fine. He's tall, buff and tough so he can be a bouncer until I trust him more if I ever. He used to do security in college, right?"

"Yes. Thanks. I appreciate it and so will he."

"You know, Miry actually let me babysit Evan for the first time after almost six years."

"I know. You two have made a lot of progress. She trusts you now. That's good."

"Yeah but here's the thing, Evan and Del keep talking to each other in Spanish."

"Yeah they do that. It's like a secret language to them because the only ones who understand them is Miry, Dani, Leon and Téa and Téa's family of course... Oh and Izzy but that's very few in comparison to all the family."

"Can Dani speak Spanish?" It never occurred to him to ask before.

"Of course she can. She rarely does but she can. All these years and you didn't know that?"

"We were never really that close. What do I do about Evan and Del? Who knows what they're saying?"

"Matthew, they're five. They're probably talking about cartoons or something."

They hung up a few minutes later. At the mansion, Del went over and sat on Matthew's lap.

"Daddy, can I take ballet?" Del asked.

"Sure, if that's what you want." Matthew replied.

"Yay! Come on Evan, let's go play!" Del and Evan ran off and Nicole walked in and sat next to Matthew.

"Dad... I've been thinking... I want to go to that boarding school in London." Nicole said.

"Why?"

"I need a brand new start. I've only got one life to live and so far I've been screwing it up. I've blamed you for everything and maybe some of that was on my mom too but hearing her say all the things that she said I realized some things. I want to get away for my last year of school."

"You mean you want to runaway. I really want the family together. We've all been part in a sense for so long I don't want any of us to separate just yet."

"I need this... Please, just think about it."

"Alright. I'll think about it."

-v-

Miracle was at the recording studio with Infinity. They were working on their first album.

"This is going to be epic." Miracle said.

"I can't believe we're actually recording an album. This is too cool." Eva said.

"I can't wait to shoot our first video." Ace said.

"It's exciting." Chad said.

"We have the resources to really push this to the max." DJ said.

"Most people have to audition to get on a major record label but luckily for us, the owner is the pianist." Ace said.

"Technically, I don't own it until I'm twenty-one." DJ said. Darren left DJ and Destiny, Price Entertainment. He worked hard to achieve the success he earned with the business. He was a millionaire by the time he was thirty. Between Darren's success, what his parents had already done and Destiny's financial success, the Price family had done pretty well for themselves. However, they never let the money go to their heads and never stopped spending sensibly. Since Darren died, Destiny has been overseeing the company while hiring someone else to run it. When DJ graduates from college he can run it if that's what he wants to do. Darren made sure his family was taken care of.

"Let's get to work, shall we?" Miracle said.

"Eva, you can go in and lay down the lead track." The producer said.

-v-

That weekend was the reopening of Capricorn but with it's new name, Infinity. After having a hard time coming up with a new name, Matthew finally settled on naming the club after the band. Matthew took the club in a different direction and freshened it up. What would really put the club on the map was the fact that Bree was going to feature it on her reality show and magazine.

"Hey party people! I just want to say congrats to my cousin Matthew on the grand opening of club Infinity where the night never ends! Have fun tonight!" Bree announced. She was a popular supermodel with her own reality show and magazine. It was always a good idea to get her to speak at big events.

"Ryder!" Miracle exclaimed when she saw him then hugged him. "You're in town!"

"I'm back for a little while. I just booked a principal role on a TV show. I'm excited." Ryder said.

"That's awesome. I've missed you cousin."

"I've missed you too. We have to hangout before I go back to Cali." He noticed Millicent. "If it isn't Ms. Milli. I'm going to go remind her why she shouldn't have dropped me for Zane."

"I think the fact that he dropped her before she could blink is reminder enough."

"Wow, that's a shame. I'll see you later." Ryder walked away.

Then she noticed Hope and Gabe dancing together. She soon saw Jaime and they talked for a little while before Leon approached her and she walked away from him.

"You've been avoiding me for like two months now which is pretty hard to do considering we have a son and our family is all intertwined." Leon said.

"I don't want to see you. What do you want from me? You ruined my relationship with Irvin. You don't get to have me whenever you want me. It doesn't work like that." Miracle said.

"I love you. I want you."

"So what? You made up your mind. We're not on the same page. We may be young but I'm ready to settle down with you, you're not. I've dealt with that. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe we shouldn't be. We could be together and I could wait for you but like you said, we just weren't working and we needed to be apart and it looks like you were right. Being apart did us both well so let's keep it that way."

"What if I am ready to settle down with you?"

"What if it's too late? Leave me alone." Miracle walked away and found Destiny.

Meanwhile, Izzy wasn't having a very good time at the opening of Infinity. Liam was trying to cheer her up as she sat at the bar.

"Can I have another tequila on the rocks please?" Izzy asked the bartender.

"You've had enough, don't you think? You don't want to start the bad habit of drowning your sorrows in alcohol." Liam said.

"Maybe you're right. No more tequilas for me." She was already half drunk anyway. "You know, the first man that was good to me, showed me how good a dad could be and protected me was Darren and he died because of it. He was protecting me and Miry. Maybe that's why I wanted someone so evil. I didn't want to lose another good guy but this time he'd be my boyfriend instead of a daddy figure. Liam, don't leave me again. Don't die."

"I won't leave you, Izzy. Your dad, Brendan won't leave you either. Have you talked to Miry about how you feel? She probably feels how you feel."

"That's the problem. We're both too nutty from the situation to talk to each other about how we feel. We're both traumatized. It's just awful... How long can we keep this secret before the police finds out that it was me?"

"Shh. If it makes you feel any better, we can skip town and go some place nice, an island or something."

"Won't that make me look guilty?"

"If so, we'll be long gone before they find us."

"What about your dad and Sam? We can't avoid talking to them."

"We don't have to. If you want we can start packing and runaway after we leave the club."

"Let's do it."

The next song that played kicked it old school. It was Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny) by the Pussycat Dolls which is Destiny and Matthew's song. He made sure it was played for a reason. He took the mic after the song went off.

"Everyone having a good time at Infinity?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah!" The crowd screamed.

"Great! Keep coming back! I just want to take a moment to talk to my Destiny."

"What is he doing?" Destiny asked Miracle and Neela. They both shrugged their shoulders, clueless.

"That song is the soundtrack to our relationship. You're the reason why I breath, the reason why I still believe. You are my Destiny. I won't ever let you go again." Bree's camera crew was moving in closer.

"I don't think I like where this is going." Destiny said. Matthew finally moved closer to her. "I hope he's not doing what it feels like he's doing." Now Matthew was directly in front of her. "What are you doing?" He got down on one knee. "Matthew, please don't do this." She said trying not to let the camera see or hear what she was saying. He pulled out a small velour box. She looked around completely overwhelmed and ran out the club before he had a chance to open the box and pop the question.

"Destiny!" Matthew called.

Miracle and Neela looked at each other.

"This isn't going to go well." Miracle said.

Matthew ran after Destiny and found her outside by her car.

"What was that about?" Matthew asked.

"I can ask you the same thing. Why were you going to propose to me and in front of the world after I told you I didn't want to get married again?" Destiny asked.

"Things are different now. I thought you may have changed your mind."

"I haven't. I don't want to hurt you. I love you so much, Matthew, I really do but I can't marry you. I'm sorry." She cried then got in her car and drove off leaving Matthew hurt, confused and a little bit angry.

* * *

_I know you're all looking forward to getting deeper into Matthew and Destiny's relationship and what's going on in Destiny's head so stay tuned, it's coming next chapter._


	12. Within Me

Within Me

Noah was asleep in the bassinet next to Destiny in the living room while she watched the weather channel which was reporting that a hurricane was coming in a few days. After she got the information she turned off the TV and Neela came over to talk to Destiny about last night.

"How's Matthew?" Destiny asked.

"Hurt, upset... Very angry. Bo and Shane were talking to him when I left."

"I told him a year ago that I did not want to get married. When someone tells you that, you don't go propose to them in front of the world."

"Why don't you want to marry Matthew?"

"Truth?" Destiny took a deep breath. "I feel guilty for moving on without Darren. Before Darren died, I always said that if something happened to him I'd never get married again but I never really thought anything would happen. I think if I marry Matthew I'll be comparing him to Darren and that isn't fair."

"Do you compare them now?"

"No but I'm not married to him now. Darren was an amazing husband. Sure we had our ups and downs like any other couple but we had an indescribable love and an epic marriage. We dreamed of growing old and gray together, sitting on a porch swing watching our grandchildren grow up. After DJ graduated high school we were going to travel the world for a year, just the two of us. I was going to do it anyway but... I got pregnant. Darren and I had all these dreams we hadn't fulfilled yet and now they're all down the drain... It just feels wrong to share them with Matthew or any other man in the world."

"Darren loved you. He would want you to be happy and move on, granted he wasn't Matthew's biggest fan but if he makes you happy then so be it. If he hurt you, Darren would probably haunt him."

"I know you're right... I never told anyone this but the night Matthew and I got together Darren came to me and told me to move on and be happy so I did but even with that I can only let go but so much."

"Ok but why? Hasn't Matthew been good to you? At this point you've been together even longer than you were twenty-one years ago."

"Matt hasn't given me any reason to doubt him. He's been wonderful. He even took care of me when I was sick. He could have cheated on me but he didn't. He's been everything I thought he would never be. It's almost like he's been possessed in a good way but he's still Matthew. What if he wakes up one day and decides he doesn't want any of this anymore?"

"After two and a half years you're still asking yourself that?"

"I can't help it. I know I shouldn't but that's what old Matthew would do."

Neela looked around the room and noticed that it looked like Darren still lived there. His keys and hat were even still in the same place as if he was going to come downstairs, take them and walk out.

"Sweetie, I know it's the hardest thing in the world to lose someone, especially someone you were so close to and loved so much but you have to let go. It's been four years and it still looks like Darren lives here."

"I know but I just can't bare to take some of this stuff down."

"... Are all of his clothes still in the bedroom closet?" Destiny nodded. "What did Matthew say when he saw your room?"

"He's never been in my room. It just feels wrong."

"You feel like you're cheating on Darren?"

"Sort of... It's like I cheated on him and got knocked up while doing it. After Evan was born, Darren and I decided we wouldn't have another baby. We talked about it for years but the next thing we knew, DJ was eight years old, Miry had a baby and we were in our mid-thirties so we decided not to have a baby after all. Then I go and have Matthew's baby, it feels so wrong!"

"You shouldn't feel guilty about all this. Things change, circumstances happen."

-v-

_The next day..._

Miracle answered the door and surprisingly, it was Sam.

"What a pleasant surprise. Did you come to see Evan?" Miracle asked.

"I'd love to see my nephew but actually I wanted to know if you've seen Izzy and Liam." Sam said.

"No. Why?"

"I have reason to believe that Izzy killed Martin Moreno and I think Liam is helping her cover it up."

"That's ridiculous."

"Why is it? She had motive, he abused her and stalked her."

"Then it was self defense."

"I would agree with you if he wasn't killed at his own apartment. You can't stalk someone at your place. All the evidence points to her. You're her best friend and Liam's cousin so I thought you may know something."

"She's your niece and he's your cousin too. Izzy is also Sierra's best friend."

"But you're closer to both of them."

"Are you going to arrest Izzy when you find her?"

"It goes against my morals I guess but no. I want to help her. She is family like you said. The LPD is close to figuring out this case and I want to clear her name, help her cover it up before there's no way out."

"I'll call her. This will stay between us."

-v-

Matthew was at the bar of Infinity thinking heavily.

"Give me a shot Patròn." Matthew said to the bartender.

"No! No Patròn or any other alcoholic beverages for Mr. Buchanan." Jason said as he walked over.

"You work for me." Matthew reminded.

"I know that but I'm not about to let you throw your life in the gutter."

"Why do you care?"

"I care about Destiny, Miracle, Noah, Evan and Del. Are you about to drink because Destiny rejected your proposal? Don't be stupid. You're not twenty years old anymore, you're forty and you have seven children and a grandson. You're hurt, I understand. Dani doesn't even want me but you don't see me taking it to the head. You need to prove that with or without Destiny, you're not going to turn back to the bottle. You better double up on those AA meetings. Destiny and Miracle just started trusting you. Noah, Del and Evan are young enough that they will only know the good in you if you let that prevail. You just got your other daughters in line so I heard."

"... You're right... Don't try to suck up to me by giving me advice."

"Let's get one thing straight, I'm not sucking up to you! I appreciate the job and I'm very sorry I stole from B.E but don't get it twisted. I've apologized to you so many times but you haven't apologized to me once for sleeping with my wife, bragging about it, knocking her up and then kissing her while I was in prison."

"Well you beat me up for it so we're even."

"I went to prison for stealing from your company, didn't stop me from apologizing."

"I gave your ass a job, that's not enough?"

"Everyone said you were no longer an ass but I don't see it. Speaking of me whooping your ass, I don't think drinking would help those problems you have with your head. Heard they've gotten worst."

"Who did you hear that from? Destiny?"

"No, I heard it from Miry. She's concerned about you. I'm like her uncle, we talked."

"Why are you so close to Destiny anyway?"

"Are you implying something?"

"You want Destiny."

"Destiny and I are friends. We've been friends since college. She's the best friend I have right now. I was a groom's man in her wedding. Darren was my best friend in the world. Get your panties out of a bunch."

"I could fire you."

"On what grounds?"

"Insubordination. " Matthew stood up.

"I just did five years in the slammer, you think I'm afraid of you? I already whooped your ass once. I'm even buffer now. Besides, I'm trying to help you out."

Matthew and Jason stared at each other in silence for a few moments. The bartender couldn't help but look between the two.

"I'm going to start my shift. Goodnight boss." Jason said with a touch of sarcasm.

Matthew may not like Jason but he knew he was right about everything.

The next day, Matthew was in the living room with Nicole.

"Nic, I've decided that you can go to school in London when school starts." Matthew said.

"Thanks so much, dad! I really need this." Nicole hugged him. "Where's Del? It's quiet."

"She started her ballet lessons today."

"That's nice. Maybe she'll be the next... whoever is a famous dancer in history. Is it ok if I go over to Llanfair to hang out with Faith? (Jessica and Antonio's daughter) She's a year younger than me, she's no trouble and she's family."

"That's fine."

"You trust me?"

"If you had something to hide you would have done it anyway but without asking."

"That's true. I'll see you later." Nicole left as Destiny was walking in with Noah in a baby carrier.

"Hey, Matt... Can we talk?" Destiny asked. Matthew just nodded his head.

"Hey Destiny!" Drew exclaimed after walking in from the kitchen.

"Hi Drew. Could you babysit Noah for a little while, while your father and I talk?" Destiny asked.

"Sure!" Drew replied happily then took Noah upstairs.

"Why didn't you want to name Noah after me?" Matthew asked.

"I didn't come here to talk about that." Destiny replied.

"I want to talk about it!" Matthew retorted.

"We already went through this. What does it matter? He already has a name."

"It matters to me. I want the truth. You named DJ after Darren."

"You're not Darren!" Destiny impulsively blurted out.

"And there it is... I'm not good enough to name our son after? Say it."

"I don't want him to be like you. Not the you you are now but the you used to be." Destiny couldn't believe she said it.

"Wow. Good to know... No wonder you won't marry me."

"It's not what you think. All of this is hard for me."

"Do you even love me?"

"Of course I do! I love you so much... it scares me. I never thought I'd love anyone as much as I love Darren but I do love you that much. It's different but I love you just as much. I feel like I'm betraying him somehow. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place with my feelings. I love you but I can't fully let go of Darren.

"...Maybe we need a break so that you can figure out what you want."

"I'm sorry I hurt you...I'll leave Noah here so that you can spend time with him, just bring him home later please."

-v-

That night in Destiny's dreams... She walked into her house and there were rose pedals leading from the front door to her room. She entered her room, there was a man holding a huge bouquet of red roses in front of his face then moved them to reveal that it was Darren. He set the flowers on the dresser.

"Welcome home my queen." Darren said. Destiny smiled.

"I've missed you." Destiny said then they kissed passionately. In a dreamlike way their clothes were suddenly gone and they were on the bed. They made love, it was slow, sensual, passionate, sexy and heated.

Destiny suddenly awoke burning up in a sweat. She threw the covers off her and sat up in the bed.

"Oh my... God." Destiny said aloud. She looked over surprised Miracle wasn't there. At least she could deal with this alone. This just made her feel even more conflicted.

"Dreaming about me, huh?"

Destiny was startled. She slowly looked up to the familiar male voice.

"Darren?"

"Hey, sugarplum."

"Am I going crazy or are you really here?"

"I'm as much here as I was the last time you saw me... four years ago at the red ball."

"I thought spirits couldn't contact people after they moved on or something."

"I haven't moved on yet and I have my reasons. It's not just because I have a hard time letting you all go because I do, like you all do but I know that once I go through that light, I'll have peace about it all. You may still struggle with it but that may have something to do with the fact that I'm still attached to you."

Destiny looked over at some of Noah's things and felt a bit guilty.

"Of course I know about the baby. He's adorable. It's alright, you know."

"How can it be?"

"It just is. I'm not there. I told you to move on. I meant it. I do not want you to be alone or sad, do you hear me? I want, I need you to be happy... even if it's with Matthew. I had a feeling you'd move on to him anyway. It doesn't mean that what we had wasn't special, nothing can change that. If he makes you happy and I know he does then let him. It's time to let me go, baby."

"I can't!" Destiny began to cry.

"You have to. It's alright. You've grieved. I'm alright. Be happy like you deserve."

Destiny cried harder, Darren wanted to touch her but he couldn't. He went right through her.

"Get it all out." Darren said.

"Why are you just showing up now?"

"I had to let you live your life."

"How come you never appeared to DJ and Miracle?"

"They weren't ready, they would have freaked out, it would have made things worst for them. I'll talk to them soon. Don't worry about DJ with the Matthew situation, I'll handle it."

"How?"

"Just trust me."

"I miss you. I love you. I always will."

"I'll always love you too." Darren took a long pause to savor the moment before he ruined it for himself. "But it's ok to love Matthew and have a life with him... I want you too... Goodbye my love. Be careful."

The way he said, "Be careful," made her nervous like there was something she needed to look out for.

-v-

Nicole and Drew walked into the living room with tote bags, they were on their way to the country club. As they walked in, Kory walked in through the front.

"You two look nice." Kory complimented.

"We're going to the country club to go swimming." Drew said.

"Isn't there a pool here?" Kory asked.

"Ever heard of getting out to socialize, brother?" Nicole asked sarcastically.

"Thought you weren't interested in socializing." Kory said and Nicole rolled her eyes.

"Let's go." Nicole said.

"Wait, what have I ever done to you?" Kory asked Nicole.

"Interfered with my life, didn't mind your business and have this goody two shoes act going on. At least when I was bad I kept it real."

"You're upset because I interfered with you dating my cousin that's too old for you and no good for you? I'm not sorry."

"I get why everyone feels he's too old but he's not a bad influence. No one can influence me to do anything I don't want and he loves me. I know he does. It's not for you to interfere. You're not my father. I don't even know you. Dad can interfere, you can't. I don't like you. I don't like fake ass people. Maybe I wasn't crazy about my dad or Destiny for my own stupid reasons but I could respect that with them what you see is what you got. Your ass on the other hand is so full of it. You keep up this good boy act when you're nothing but a little mob thug trying to follow your granddaddy's footsteps."

"You're in the mob?" Drew was shocked. She couldn't believe it.

"And so is Dan but I always knew that because Dan may be bad but he's honest. That's more than I can say for big brother here." Nicole said before she noticed Matthew standing behind Kory. "And he's killed someone too, something you two can bond over. We're out." Nicole and Drew left. Kory turned to Matthew and disappointed that he was busted.

"You're in the mob and Dan too?" Matthew asked.

"Yes." Kory replied before they sat on the couch.

"That explains some things... Why?"

"... I guess I have a thing for danger and control... Don't tell my mom. This would break her heart."

"I won't..." Kory was relieved. "... if you get out." Kory shook his head in disappointment. "What's it going to be?"

"Fine."

"Don't lie to me. I'll find out."

"... Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"How did you get over taking someone's life then getting away with it?"

"... I never did. I don't think I ever will. Everyone thinks I started drinking because I couldn't be with Destiny and yeah, that's half the reason but the other half is because I always felt the guilt for killing a man... That's a demon I still deal with." Kory began to cry.

"I don't want to feel this way forever. I can't hold on to this pain and this secret too much longer. Dan was the only one who knew then Nicole found out, now you know. " Matt hugged Kory. "I lied before but I'm really going to get out now."

-v-

Miracle and DJ fell asleep watching a movie then they soon heard their names called. They began to wake up and were in shock to see Darren in front of them. Miry pinched DJ, he pinched her back.

"We're really awake." Miracle said.

"How is this possible?" DJ asked.

"Anything is possible, son." Darren said.

"It's really you." Miracle cried.

"Yes it is. I want you two to know that I love you and I know you love me but it's ok to let go and move on. I've been watching and I'm so proud of both of you. DJ, don't be upset because your mom has moved on to Matthew. He makes her happy. That's what's important. I know you don't want part of any of that family but you all need each other."

"I don't want to be a family with Matthew."

"Just talk to him."

"No." DJ caught Darren off with that response.

"I'm gone four years and now you don't listen to me? I said talk to him!"

"Fine but why do you want him and mom together anyway?"

"Because I love your mother and I don't want her to be lonely just because I'm not alive and because I'm not alive I know things that you don't know so just trust me."

"Ok."

"You died too soon." Miracle said.

"Miry, it was my time. I served my purpose, fulfilled my destiny. It was not your fault that I died, don't ever think that. I was supposed to save you and Izzy. That's just how it was meant to be. Don't be afraid to live princess, just don't be afraid and don't worry. You are not alone and you never will be... And tell Izzy that she is special and that it's ok to love, it's ok to be loved. Tell her to let go of everything, tell her that I told you to tell her."

"Ok." Miracle said.

"I going to go now. I'll love you both forever."

"Love you too." Miracle and DJ said in unison before Darren disappeared.

-v-

_A couple days later..._

It was pouring down raining. It was horrible, the hurricane was coming and all Destiny wanted to do is get home to Miracle, DJ, Noah and Evan. She was halfway home when she saw Dani pulled on the side of the road and getting out of her car. It looked like she was having car trouble.

"Oh great. I can't just leave her there. Ugh! Fate, is making me help and talk to Dani. How cruel?" Destiny pulled over and rolled down her passenger side window. "Need a lift?" Dani was relieved and got in.

"Destiny, thank you so much! Gosh, I'm soaked."

"Yeah... Don't ruin my seat." Destiny continued to drive until the rain got too dangerous to drive in. "I can't drive in this."

"My aunt Vicki's cabin is right up the street. We can wait there."

"Not only did I have to talk to her but now I have to be stuck with her?" Destiny thought to herself. She pulled over once they got there. Dani let them in with the hidden key.

"I'm going to get dry." Dani said then went upstairs. Destiny got comfortable then tried to call Miracle but there was no signal.

"Wonderful." Destiny said annoyed.

A little while later, Dani came back downstairs then looked in the refrigerated.

"Are you hungry? We can make a sandwich."

"No." Destiny replied.

"Suit yourself." Dani made a sandwich then got comfortable and put her feet up on a chair while she ate her sandwich. "Looks like we're stuck together for a while." When Dani finished her sandwich she went back over to the kitchen but as she was heading back, the lights went out and Dani bumped into a table. "Ow!"

"This just keeps getting better and better." Destiny said sarcastically.

_To be continued_...


	13. There For You

There For You

Destiny and Dani found candles, lit the room then got comfortable on the couch.

"It's lit pretty well now." Dani said.

"Mmhm." Destiny replied.

"We're going to be stuck here for a while. It'll be pretty boring if we don't talk."

"Talk about what?"

"Our problems. I know I messed up but there is nothing I wouldn't do to have you as my friend again. We're forty years old, we've been friends since we were like sixteen. It doesn't make sense to just throw it away."

"Like I said before, you know as well as I that we had problems before this Matthew situation. It's just that neither of us ever said it out loud."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh you want to play that game?" Destiny laughed a little.

"What?" Dani replied in a confused tone.

"You want to talk, let's talk. Let's put the cards on the table... We've kind of had a bit of tension every since Shaun and Téa got married. That was about twenty-five years ago."

"Why do you say that?"

"Don't play dumb. You've always had a problem with the fact that I was closer to your mom than you are."

"Well she is MY mom. You have your own!"

"It's not my fault. Maybe if you were a little more appreciative, respectful and didn't act like a brat when you're with your mother then maybe I wouldn't be closer to her. You always act like it's a bother to be around her. You'd think after you think someone died, you'd be more grateful for them."

"I'm grateful." Dani said with an attitude. "I can say the same about you with Matthew. You've just started giving him the time of day."

"That's a damn lie. You know Matthew was an ass and liked to interfere with my marriage. We needed our distance back then... You and I had even more tension because you never liked that I did better than you in law school then had more recognition as lawyer from the time we graduated until now. When I got Llanview's Lawyer of the Year award, you weren't even happy for me."

"I'm sorry but I am Téa Delgado Lord's daughter, I'm supposed to be the best... And I know that I'm not so I hate it!"

"You're a good lawyer, that's why you became DA. You know that, that's why you liked to flaunt the fact that you were DA because it made you feel important and like you were the best."

"Yeah except they asked you first and you turned it down because you don't like to play by the book like my mother. You didn't think I knew they asked you first, did you?"

"No."

"They didn't even ask me. I had to convince them that I deserved it."

"You kept your position for eight years so I think you proved yourself. Don't be so insecure."

"Then I lost it because I'm a drug addict... So fine, maybe I have envied you a bit-"

"A lot."

"Whatever. But I didn't let it stop our friendship."

"Oh please, that's why you didn't mind having sex with Matthew and having his baby."

"You were married then!"

"So what? How would you like it if I slept with Nate or Jason? You just don't do that. That is girl code 101. Even worst than that, when Matthew and I actually were together, you tried to sleep with him again. You were just going to blatantly betray me."

"I was high."

"That is no excuse! How can I trust you? You hold all this resentment toward me and because of it you would just betray me at the blank of an eye." They then heard a loud noise then went to look out of the window. "Ahhhh! My car!" Destiny exclaimed. A tree had fell on it. They went back over to the couch.

"This storm is getting worst my the minute." Dani acknowledged.

v-

"Dad, have you talked to mom?" Miracle asked Matthew on the phone.

"No. Why?" Matthew asked.

"She was supposed to be home an hour ago, she hasn't called and her phone is going straight to voicemail. I've called everyone and no one has talked to her. Something's wrong."

"Calm down, I'm sure she's fine."

"You're not sure! I know my mom better than anyone, something is wrong."

"I'm going to call John, ok?" They ended the phone call then Miracle began to hyperventilate.

"Stay calm Miry, breath. Remember when dad came to us, he told you not to worry and that you'd never be alone." DJ reminded.

"Yeah and that has kept me in zen zone until we couldn't find mom. Not being alone doesn't mean we won't be without mom."

"Don't think like that! He said it as if everything would be fine! "

"Fine but there is still something wrong, I know it."

-v-

After Matthew got off the phone with Miracle he called Destiny and couldn't get through like Miracle said then called John. He tried to stay calm when talking to Miracle but really his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

"John, Destiny was supposed to be home to the kids an hour ago and we can't get through to her on the phone. It's not like her and it's dangerous out there." Matthew explained.

"Destiny's missing too? Jason just came in and said he couldn't find Dani. Her family hasn't heard from her either. Do you think they might be together?"

"I don't see why they would be."

"Well we're looking for both of them now."

"I'm on my way to the station."

"Don't do that. You just said it was dangerous. We're handling it."

"John, this is Destiny we're talking about... And Dani too."

"Stay with your kids, no one needs both parents missing." They ended the call. "He's never been a good listener. He'll probably be here in ten minutes." John said to himself.

-v-

Back at Vicki's cabin, things had taken a turn for the worst. Something flew through the window.

"What the hell was that?" Dani asked.

The wind then blew all the candles out.

"This is really bad!" Destiny exclaimed then thought about when Darren told her to be careful and wondered if this is what he meant. "Perhaps, this wasn't the best place to wait."

"It was the only place to wait. What are we going to do? It's getting dark outside, we're not going to be able to see anything in a little while and the window is broken."

"There has to be a flashlight somewhere in here. Let's find it then wait over there where there's no windows and hope this doesn't get any worst than it already is."

They found a flashlight then waited in the safest area of the cabin. Hours passed and they both eventually dozed off to sleep until they heard another extremely loud noise that woke them out of their sleep. The cabin was falling apart all around them.

"Oh my God!" They exclaimed.

"We have to get out of here." Destiny said.

"And go where? We're in the woods, there's nothing but trees and it's a horrible storm."

"The entire cabin is caving in. It's not even protecting us anymore!"

They tried to get out then Dani tripped and fell.

"Ow!" Dani screamed.

"What?"

"I think I twisted my ankle or broke it!"

"Aw man! It pays to get stuck with a doctor. On three, I'm going to help you up and help you make it out of here."

-v-

Meanwhile, the police were moving too slow for Matthew and Jason so in true Matthew and Jason form they took matters into their own hands. Unlike Matthew and Jason, they worked together but they both agreed that Destiny and Dani were more important than their feud. They figured out that Destiny and Dani were coming from the same direction and maybe they got stuck in the woods but the storm was worst out there. That was bad! They used the new technology to get a live view of the area they guessed Destiny and Dani might be in. The screen was the size of the wall.

"That's Dani's car. It's just sitting in the middle of nowhere." Jason said.

"But Dani's not in it." Matthew said.

"You know, your aunt Vicki's cabin isn't too far from there. Maybe she walked there."

"It's not that close and definitely too far to walk in the rain. Maybe Destiny saw her and picked her up."

"Let's move this up the road."

-v-

To make matters worst, Destiny hit her head and seemed to have a small concussion. Dani did her best to try and tend to it. On the bright side, they found a tiny bit of shelter.

"Destiny! Stay awake! Don't close your eyes. Stay with me! This is such an awful day. We're soaked and hurt but one thing the D-girls are good at is talking, right? Let's talk. Good stuff this time. Remember that trip we took to Tahiti and I tried to teach you how to surf? You didn't really like that too much but boy did we have fun." Destiny cracked a smile. "Remember our high school musical? That was fun."

"You stole my part." Destiny joked.

"I did not!"

"The same way Mariah didn't steal her rifts from Whitney."

"See, let's keep this up. You have to stay awake. I know someone is looking for us."

"This is a bad time to be stuck in the woods. It's a storm, it's dark, we're hurt and there are wild animals."

Dani's eyes widened, she hadn't thought about the animals.

"There's probably a squad team looking for us by now." Dani said then noticed Destiny's eyes beginning to close.

"Wake up!" Dani yelled and started to cry. "Destiny!" Dani screeched as only she could before Destiny's eyes closed. "Noooo! Wake up!"

Destiny was then watching the situation, no longer in her body.

"Oh no. Am I dead?" She saw the light. "Oh no!" But Darren was in front of it.

"You're not dead yet. It is not your time. You need to go back into your body and fight harder to stay awake. I know it's hard but you won't have to wait too much longer." Darren said.

"This is what you meant when you said to be careful."

"Yeah and that's why I stuck around. I knew this would happen. I needed to be here to tell you to fight. It was my time but it's not yours. Once I know you're alright I can finally move on." He paused then kissed her like never before. "I've wanted to do that for four years, just one last time. I've wanted to touch you, kiss you and couldn't. That being said, you have to move on now. Marry Matthew because deep down inside, you want to. You won't regret it. You'll both be happy. We'll always love each but it's ok to love him and grow old with him." Darren knew he was saying the right thing, even in the afterlife it hurt him to the core but he knew it was true.

"I guess I won't see you again until it really is my time, just one last kiss for closure." They kissed one last time then she awoke. "Is that tears or rain that I feel?" Dani had cried a stream of tears on her.

"Destiny! You're awake. Thank God! Please, don't do that again."

"Dan-Yeller would you please stop screeching, you're killing my ears."

"My voice isn't that annoying."

"Yes it is." They shared a small laugh and Dani hugged Destiny. "Let's just keep talking."

The storm eased up then about a half hour later which felt like an eternity to Destiny and Dani, Matthew and Jason showed up with the LPD and ambulance then got them to the hospital.

Destiny finally felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. She knew Darren had moved on because she didn't feel his presence any longer. The last kiss really gave her the closure she needed to move on. Loving Darren didn't mean she couldn't love Matthew and happily spend her life with him without comparing the two.

After she saw the doctor and he confirmed that she would be alright, Matthew came in the room.

"I'm ok except for this big bandage on my head. I just have to stay a few days for observation."

"Good. You two had us worried."

"Did you call Miry? I know she must have panicked."

"I called her. She's fine now."

"I love you, Matthew. I really do. I know you love me and I dealt with some issues between seeing the light and waking up."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm not betraying Darren by loving and being with you. It doesn't change the past I had with him and it doesn't mean I can't be happy with you in the future. I want to be Mrs. Buchanan. I want to marry you."

"You shouldn't make big decisions right after you have a near death experience."

"It's not like that. I know what and who I want and that is to marry you. What do you say, the offer still on the table?"

"I don't know why I've been walking around with this but-" Matthew pulled the ring box out of his pocket then opened it. It was a beautiful ten carat, Purple Heart cut diamond ring."

"It's beautiful!" Destiny exclaimed.

"Destiny Loretta, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Matthew put the ring on her finger then they kissed.

-v-

"How do you feel?" Jason asked Dani.

"I'm alright. Thanks for being here for me. I don't deserve it." Dani said.

"When you love someone you love them unconditionally, I'll always be there for you."

"You and Matt even worked together. Never thought I'd see the day."

"Real men put BS aside for the women they love..." Jason realized he was probably being to lovey dovey for Dani at the moment. "Not love romantically or anything, any kind of love, you know."

"Right." Dani smiled knowing Jason was trying to clean up what he said about loving her. She knew he was still in love with her. She went to kiss him but he turned away so she just kissed his cheek. "I love you too. Thanks for finding us."

-v-

Time passed, the kids were back in school and Nicole went away to boarding school in London. Drew and Nicole got their college acceptance letters back and Drew got into Penn State, Nicole managed to get into a college in London. Infinity had a smash hit on the radio and were shooting their first video. They were really making a name for themselves. Meanwhile, Destiny and Matthew were planning their wedding and Destiny and Dani's friendship was making progress.

Matthew went to his doctor's appointment to have a check up on his head and see if he's going to need the surgery or not.

"So what the diagnosis?" Matthew asked.

"You need the surgery or it could get worst but technology has improved a lot since you first injured your head. At this point, maybe we can improve the problem a lot."

"But not get rid of it."

"I'm afraid too much damage has been done."

"Fine then I'll take improve a lot. What are the risks? I have an infant son, two daughters going off to college next year, a son in an amazing band, a new club, I'm getting married to the woman I've dreamed of marrying for twenty years. This is the peak of my life."

-v-

Destiny, Miracle and DJ were going through Darren's things deciding what to keep and what to let go. It was long overdue.

"It's so weird not seeing all of Darren's clothes in the closet. I don't think I was ready to admit that he wasn't coming back before." Destiny said.

"Why now?" Miracle asked.

"Because I know he's alright and I know we are too." Destiny replied then the doorbell rung. "I'll get it." It was Matthew. "Hey hon!" They kissed.

"Hey, can we talk?"

"Sure. Give me second. Miry, help me with something upstairs real quick?" Destiny and Miracle went upstairs leaving DJ and Matthew alone.

"DJ, I want us to get along. I love your mother and believe it or not, I love you too."

"Yeah, I don't believe that."

"Why?"

"I've known you my entire life and you've just started to pay me any attention. Not that I ever cared before but now I have to move into your house."

"I never had anything against you, I just had a lot of growing up to do."

"You tried to break up my parents."

"Again, I had to grow up. I'm not trying to replace Darren, I can't do that and I don't want to but I do want us all to be a real family. Let's just start over. Just give me a chance."

"Fine, I'll do it because I know it's what my mom and my dad would want but if you hurt my mother, I'll hurt you and there will be no more chances after that." Destiny came downstairs. DJ smiled. "He's all yours mommy." DJ went upstairs.

"What were you two talking about?" Destiny asked.

"I was trying to settle things between DJ and I." Matthew said.

"How'd that go?" Destiny asked not expecting him to say it went well.

"Uh... We reached an understanding but he said he'd hurt me if I hurt you."

"Oh. He meant it. He's a sweetheart but he's very protective. One time these boys were bullying Eva for no more reason than she is biracial. All these years and we still deal with BS like that from time to time. DJ hit one of those boys so hard he knocked his front tooth out. I don't promote violence but let's just say they never bullied Eva again. He's just trying to protect me but he'll see that he doesn't have to and he'll grow to love you. I wouldn't marry you if I wasn't sure of that."

"Are you going to sell the house?"

"No. Darren and I worked really hard for this house and we want it to stay in the family so that like the Buchanan mansion, no matter where we go in the world we always have a home to come back to. I want DJ and Miry to have it and they can pass it down or sell it if that's what they want but that'll be their decision. We built this house from the ground up. This is my dream house."

"Gotcha. Well what I really came here to talk about was I went to see the doctor today and he said I need the surgery."

"Oh... When?"

"It'll be after the wedding."

"So what are the risks? Am I more likely to be a widow again or more likely to have a husband that won't go into a coma at any minute?"

"The second one. There's a chance I'll be about seventy percent better but then again it might not work at all and with any surgery, there's the risk of death. But it's not likely."

"Mom! They arrested Izzy for her ex-boyfriend's murder!" Miracle ran downstairs.

"That's ridiculous." Destiny said.

"Well not really... Here's the truth because you have help her. She did it because she was kind of scared and out of her mind from him stalking her and stuff. Liam covered it up for her then she and Liam ran off. Sam and I found out and helped cover it up so there's really no evidence, just motive."

"Oh my gosh." Destiny was in disbelief.

"Eddie Ford all over again." Matthew said.

"Yeah." Destiny agreed. "Let me go down to the station so that I can work my magic."

Considering the fact that they covered up all the evidence and Izzy's alibi was that she was with Liam the entire day, it wasn't hard to get her off so she got away with it but the real problem was within Izzy. She still felt guilty. Miracle told Izzy what Darren told her to tell her and that helped but she still needed intense therapy.

* * *

_I know I went a bit ghost whisperer on you all but I hope you all enjoyed. There's one more chapter left. What are you looking forward to?_


	14. Together At Last

Together At Last

Two days before the wedding, Destiny, Miracle and DJ moved their stuff into the Buchanan mansion but weren't actually going to move in until after the wedding.

"You know, you don't have to move if you don't want to." Destiny said to Miracle.

"I know but DJ and I have a deal. He moves, I move." Miracle replied.

"I figured as much."

"It's not so bad. A few years ago, there would be no way I would move in here but it's all good. We're family. We stick together."

_Day of the wedding..._

Miracle entered Destiny's room and woke her up for the morning. She's finally been able to sleep in her own room again.

"Mommy, wake up! It's your wedding day!" Miracle said sweetly. Destiny woke up with a smile on her face. "Grandma Vange already picked up Noah. Neela, Starr, Auntie Layla, Izzy, Eva and my sisters are on their way." It's kind of weird that Starr, Vida and Del are in the wedding but you didn't even invite Aunt Dani."

"It's a work in progress. We're beginning a new friendship. Just because we're trying to be friends again, doesn't mean I trust her around my husband. Fool me twice, shame on me and I don't do shame on me."

"I can't wait to see Aunt Layla, it's been so long. I've missed her so much!"

"Me too! How is Izzy?"

"Good, she's making a lot of progress... Now let's get you ready to be Mrs. Buchanan."

"Wow. I'm really no longer going to be Destiny Price. It's strange but... Im ready."

"Don't worry, your maid of honor has everything under control."

"I know you do!"

-v-

"It's your big day, son!" Bo exclaimed.

"Yeah, can't believe it." Matthew said. "David, do you have the ring?"

"Of course! Don't worry bro, I gotcha." David replied.

"Ace, Kory, DJ, Shane, Chad and Rex are all ready to go downstairs." Bo said.

"Let's go make Destiny, Mrs. Buchanan." Matthew said with a grin as bright as the sun.

It wasn't long before Matthew was at the alter waiting for Destiny. He dreamed of the moment so many times and now it was finally happening. It wasn't a big wedding, there were about fifty of their closest friends and family. The bridesmaids looked beautiful in blue. The groomsmen were suave. Evan was the ring bearer, Vida and Del were the flower girls. Then came the bride.

Destiny and Matthew soon said their "I do's" then Matthew kissed the bride.

"We did it." Matthew said.

"We did." Destiny smiled.

The reception was beautiful and everyone they loved was in attendance. They took their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan.

"Destiny Buchanan." Matthew said.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say it out loud."

"It's nice that we were able to bring our families together in peace. Hopefully they'll all get closer."

Destiny soon threw the bouquet, Miracle caught it then Destiny and Matthew headed to their honeymoon for a week in Venice. When they came back to Llanview everyone was settled into the mansion.

Destiny instantly took Noah into her arms.

"How was the honeymoon?" Miracle asked.

"And please spare certain details." Nicole said.

"It was great." Matthew said.

"Venice is beautiful." Destiny said.

"Not to ruin the moment but since you're back from the honeymoon, dad's surgery is coming up soon, right?" Drew asked.

"Yes, it's in a few days but don't worry. It'll be fine." Matthew replied.

"We sure hope so." Ace said.

"In the meantime, I'm glad we're all here. I know Nic is going back to London after my surgery and Kory doesn't live here but it's nice we're all here together now." Matthew said.

_Four Years Later..._

Matthew's surgery four years ago, went better than expected. His brain isn't perfect but it was improved about eighty percent and he doesn't have anywhere near the problems he had before.

In the last four years, Infinity became a global sensation and they are planning to go on a summer tour across the country. Miracle's clothing line is just as big. Miracle has proven to be a business savvy Buchanan like the rest of the family.

Speaking of the Buchanan family and business, after Kory graduated from LU, he decided he would go into the Buchanan family business and work at BE, learn everything he could from Matthew as opposed to going into the Corrinthos family mob. It turned out that being in Llanview was the best thing for him. It was nice for Matthew to have someone to take under his wing in the family business. They both helped each other grow in a lot of ways and Matthew was able to bond with Kory in a different way than with his other kids.

Destiny and Miracle were in the living room when DJ ran in excited.

"I've got great news." DJ said.

"What is it?" Destiny asked.

"... I got into Harvard!" DJ held up the acceptance letter.

"What?" Destiny and Miracle both said.

"I didn't even know you were applying to Harvard." Destiny said.

"I wanted to get in first and I did. I know you both dreamed of going to Harvard. Now I can go for the both of you."

"Don't go just because of us." Destiny said.

"I want to go. I can't wait!"

"I'm so proud of you little brother!" Miracle exclaimed. The three hugged. Destiny started crying.

"Mom!" DJ exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so happy."

"What's up?" Drew asked as she entered the room.

"Drew, you're back from college. Congratulations on graduating from PennState! Our brother just got into Harvard!"

"That's amazing D!" Drew exclaimed then Ace walked in.

"You got into Harvard? I'm happy for you but what about Infinity and the tour?" Ace asked.

"We can still go on tour but after that either we have to put it on hold or you all have to go on without me. Besides, I don't think everyone is planning to go to school in Llanview anyway." DJ said.

"Miry, I'm back which means I am ready to be your new model." Drew said.

"I have the perfect look for you." Miracle replied.

Drew's dream was to be a supermodel, she was ready to pursue it and Miracle was going to help her.

-v-

Nicole who hasn't even stepped foot in America for three and a half years walked into the Buenas Dias and spotted Dan.

"Well if it isn't Daniel Morgan. Perfect dress for the occasion, short, tight and fiery red." She perked up her boobs and walked over to him. "Hello Mr. Morgan."

"Nicole?"

"It's me. You look good."

"So do you."

"It's been a long time. I just wanted to say hello. I'm going to get a slice of pie then head home to the family. I haven't seen them in years."

Nicole walked away in a way she knew Dan wouldn't be able to stop looking. After Nicole got her pie, she went to see Kory.

"Hello brother."

"Welcome home, what are you doing here? Dan is not here."

"I know that, I just saw Dan at the Buenas Dias. Besides, after all these years I am so over him. I came to see you."

"You don't even like me."

"Oh please, I love you. A lot can change in four years but know that I'm coming for your spot at B.E."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! Fair and square."

"Since when do you do anything fair and square?"

"I've grown up a lot, mob boy... Anyway, I just wanted to see you. I'm going home to see everyone else now." Nicole left and ran into Dan in the hallway.

"Hey." Dan said.

"Hey." Nicole kept walking like he didn't phase her then he grabbed her and kissed her.

"I missed you."

"I'm not surprised."

"Didn't you miss me?"

"Not really."

"Then why'd you let me kiss you?"

"Because then it'd hurt so much more when I do this." She walked away in a sexy way.

Everyone was happy to have Nicole home. They could finally all be together again, just about everyone had grown closer in four years but Nicole kept her distance, mostly to get herself together.

-v-

Destiny went through some of her old things then found brochures for the trips she and Darren were planning to take around the world at this point in their lives.

"I still would love to do this but I can't leave Noah. What should I do? Wait until I'm sixty?"

Neela walked in the room.

"What's up?" Neela asked.

"How does a girls' trip around the world for an entire summer sound?"

"Fun."

"I want to do it. I don't want to wait any longer. I don't want to leave Noah at all but I need to do this for myself just for a few months. The original plan was for a year but I definitely can't do that."

"Bel is twelve now and she's supposed to stay the summer with Jack anyway."

"I can ask Dani, Miry and Izzy to come too. The guys can spend a nice summer alone with the kids, right? It'll be fun. You and I are the only ones who are married and have to run it by our husbands first."

"I think Shane will be fine with it."

"I don't think Matt will be."

Later Destiny talked to Matthew.

"I need to take this trip for me. I don't want to wait around another fourteen years." Destiny said.

"Why can't we do it as a family or do it together?" Matthew asked.

"That's not what I want. This is going to sound so bad and don't get me wrong, I love my kids but... I just need a break from being a mom for like three months. I've been a mom since I was eighteen. I need a little me time."

"I've been a dad since I was eighteen."

"It's not the same. I've been a full time mom for twenty-six years."

"Miry's going on the trip."

"She's an adult. It's not the same."

"Please just let me have this."

"Ok."

"Thank you, honey. I love you so much. I will call everyday. On the bright side for you, you'll have Kory, Nic, Drew and Noah to yourself for an entire summer."

"Ace and DJ will be on tour, Del will be at dance camp and Miry will be with you. We should all be together before the boys go to college."

"We'll all come back together before then, I promise. For now, you and I should just come together." Destiny got on top of Matthew, took off his shirt and kissed him.

-v-

For four years, Dani has been trying to convince Jason that they should get back together but he doesn't want to get hurt again.

"Destiny asked me to travel with her for the summer. When I get back, you and Vida should be waiting for me back home." Dani said then kissed Jason.

"Don't play with my heart. We have a fifteen year old, I need to focus on her."

"We can focus together... Listen Jase, I made a mistake letting you go. Like you said, no man has ever been as good to me as you have. I just lost myself for a while but I know I love you and if you give me another chance you will never regret it."

"... Ok, we can give it another go but let's take it slow."

"Yeah! I like it slow." Dani whispered in his ear.

"You know what I meant." Jason smiled then she kissed him again.

-v-

After the talk with Dani, Jason headed to Club Infinity and stopped to talk to Matt before his shift.

"I saved my money and made a good investment." Jason handed Matthew a check. "That's the money I stole from B.E. It's all there and this is my two weeks notice. Thanks for given me a job at a time when I needed one."

"I didn't expect this at all. Thank you. I respect this... I'm sorry I slept with your wife, threw it in your face and knocked her up." Matthew said.

"It took you over a decade but I'll accept your apology." Jason said. They shook hands and finally squashed their beef.

-v-

Nicole and Dan ran into each other in Angel's Square and Nicole was going to keep it moving until...

"I love you! I always have!" Dan blurted out and stopped Nicole in her tracks. She turned toward him.

"Go on."

"I've never gotten over you."

"No surprise... But I haven't let you go either."

"I just couldn't date a teenager. It just seemed wrong and perverted even though we had a connection already. Plus, I didn't want a problem with your dad and Kory."

"I get it and I shouldn't have lied to you about my age but I liked you a lot and that grew to love." They kissed passionately. "What does this mean?"

"I want to be with you but what about your dad."

"I am a grown ass woman now. If he doesn't like it, he'll just have to deal with it." Nicole smiled then kissed him again.

-v-

Miry was taking her date back to the Price residence. They didn't use it as much anymore but Miry and DJ hang out there from time to time. She opened the door and surprisingly saw Leon there. She closed the door immediately before her date could see, quickly ended the date then went in to question Leon on why he was there.

"What the hell are you-" Miracle looked around at the lights and flowers. It was so beautiful.

"I told your mom what I wanted to do and she gave me the key." Leon said.

"What's this all about?"

Leon got down on one knee.

"I know I took a long time but I'm ready. We're not little kids anymore. We've grown up... And so has our ten year old son... You are everything to me and I love you more than words can describe. Will you become Mrs. Lord? Will you marry me?"

"Oh my God..." Miracle clutched her heart. Her mind went a million miles per hour. "... Yes!"

Leon put the ring on her finger, he got up and she jumped into his arms. Miry couldn't wait to tell Izzy about her engagement. Izzy, who is one hundred times better now and a counselor for abused women revealed that she was engaged to Liam.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Miracle asked.

"Double wedding!" They exclaimed in unison.

So Leon and Miracle and Liam and Izzy had a double wedding. The two couples finally got the lives they dreamed of with each other. Miracle and Izzy got pregnant soon after the wedding. Miracle and Leon had a girl who they named Eden Leona Lord. Izzy and Liam had twin girls named Nalda and Nina McBain, three years later they had another daughter named Laurinda.

Infinity went on their summer tour then everyone went their separate ways for college. DJ went to Harvard, majored in music and business, he was preparing to continue his music career and run Price Entertainment. Ace decided to go to Tennessee State University and major in communications. A lot of his mom's family still lived there and he thought it'd be nice to have a reality check and live simpler for a while. Eva and Chad both went to Julliard. Ace and Eva dated all the way through high school but the fact that they went to different colleges broke them up. Every year Infinity would drop a single, get together and do shows when they could to keep their name out there because they were definitely planning to get back together after they all graduated.

Del continued to dance and got signed to a dance company.

Drew and Harvey continued to date until they grew apart and decided to just be friends but Drew did become a very successful model with the help of Miracle, Layla, Bre. It's not what you know but who you know. The great part about it was Drew was actually really good at it so she deserved it. Everyone was really proud of her, considering where she started. A few years ago she was just this girl who followed everything her sister did and now she's this strong, sweet, independent woman.

Nicole and Dan admitted their love and stuck together, Matthew and Kory just had to accept that. Dan moved up in the mob world and Nicole didn't mind too much but aside from that she stayed on the positive side of things and ended up working side by side with Kory at B.E. Matthew loved it. His two children that were the most like him were working right under him. He was able to guide and teach them, keep them on the straight and narrow... mostly. Nicole and Kory even learned to get along, Matthew loved that too. He'd become a sucker for family togetherness every since he had gotten sober.

Dani and Jason finally got back together. Jason and Vida finally moved back in with Dani. Matthew wouldn't give Dani full custody of Del again but he agreed to joint custody so Dani had Del for weekends and holidays.

Destiny, Neela, Miracle, Dani and Izzy did take their summer trip around the world. It wasn't a lot of time but it was time that Destiny needed, she no longer had to wonder about it or wish. She just needed some time for herself. She and Matthew continued to be really happy and make their family first priority. Noah being born was pretty much the start of everyone coming together and made Matthew and Destiny deal with all their issues. He was the true definition of a bundle of joy and though he was no longer just a bundle he still radiated joy and reminded everyone what life was all about.

And they lived happily ever after...

* * *

_This is really the end of the Llanview Lives series. Hope you all enjoyed._

_I do have two fanfics in mind for the new OLTL. It may be a little while before I put them up, as in weeks maybe months but look out for them._


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